January 27, 2001


A 17-0 run early in the second half by the Defiance College men's basketball team was too much for a visiting Bluffton College squad to overcome Saturday afternoon as Defiance remained in a first-place tie atop the Heartland Conference with a 104-85 win over the Beavers.

Bluffton sees their five-game winning streak snapped with the loss, which sends the Beavers to a 13-5 overall record and 4-3 mark in the HCAC. Defiance improves to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in the HCAC. Bluffton went up by as many as six points in the first half before Defiance came back to tie the score at 47-47 at halftime.

BC hit the first basket of the second half but it was all Defiance from there as the hosts went on their 17-0 run and increased their lead to as many as 21 points before the final horn sounded.

Bluffton nailed 10 of 19 three-point attempts but was outrebounded 46-29 in the game, with 16 of Defiance's boards coming at the offensive end.

In an amazing offensive spurt, Bluffton drained five straight 3-pointers to tie the score at 41-41 with 3:08 to play in the first half. Freshman Scott Remaklus (Lorain/Southview) hit two of them, while senior Chris Sheldon (Bucyrus/Wynford), junior Rod Overmyer (Payne/Wayne Trace) and senior Chad Cramer (Bellevue) all added one trey.

Five Bluffton players scored in double figures, led by junior Travis Elsass (Wapakoneta/Jackson Center) with 20 points. Cramer (Bellevue) netted 17 points.

Six Defiance players scored in double figures, led by Jason Hervey with 21 points. Defiance scored over the century mark for the second time this season against Bluffton, as BC came up short in their goal to avenge a 117-91 loss to the Yellow Jackets on January 6.

Bluffton will host Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday night at 7:30 in the Beavers first home game in 18 days.