DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball team capped off a Beaver sweep at Defiance with an 80-77 victory over the Yellow Jackets on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. Bluffton improved to 5-9 overall and it handed Head Coach Seth Clark his first Heartland Conference win! Defiance slipped to 1-12 and 0-7 in the HCAC.
Ian Snelling (Erlanger, Ky./Dixie Heights) opened the clash with a deep triple which helped power Bluffton to an early 8-1 lead. Defiance responded with 13 straight points, making it 14-8 Defiance at the 13:44 mark. Graduate senior Myles Thomas (Chicago, Ill./Leo) picked off the Jackets and served it up to William Layfield (West Chester/Lakota West), knotting the score at 17 apiece with 9:10 on the clock.
Matt Ray (Indianapolis, Ind./Herron) sandwiched a pair of triples around a Snelling jumper as Bluffton opened a 31-19 lead at the 4:42 mark. Layfield buried a trifecta and Ray finished the half with a pair of freebies as Bluffton led 36-30 at the break.
Following a pair of Cam Rogers (Cincinnati/Christian) jumpers, Ray popped off another three for a 43-37 Beaver lead just over four minutes into the second stanza. Ray's second triple in less than 40 seconds made the score 46-40. Rogers and Ray pushed it out to 57-48 but a 12-4 Defiance spurt pulled the home team within a point (61-60) at the 7:37 mark.
Jumpers from Rogers and Snelling had Bluffton on the verge of sealing it, but Defiance again made it a one-point game before Snelling stepped outside the arc for a 76-72 visitor lead. Four consecutive Connor Martin (Holland/Springfield) counters gave the Beavers a seemingly comfortable 80-74 advantage with 10 seconds to play, however, a Defiance banked in three from the corner and a Bluffton turnover on the inbounds pass forced the visitors to anxiously watch another triple try hit the side of the backboard. The Beavers and their fans exhaled as they notched their first HCAC victory of the season!
Snelling led the good guys with 20 points and he added four assists and three rebounds. Ray was a perfect 5-of-5 beyond the arc for 17 points. Layfield and Rogers chipped in with 12 and 11 markers, respectively. Stammen was just one assist shy of his career high, doling out eight dimes against the Jackets. Martin added seven points and six rebounds.
Bluffton hit 27-of-59 from the field (45.8 percent), including 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) on triples. The Beavers made hay at the line, knocking down 16-of-20 for 80 percent, while limiting the Yellow Jackets to just six attempts. The visitors pulled down one more rebound (33-32), and the Jackets turned it over four more times (18-14).
The Bluffton men will hit the road again on Saturday, Jan. 13, traveling to Hanover College for a 2 p.m. meeting with the Panthers.
-BEAVERS-