Phil Sundling sparked a rally with five straight first half points.

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- Defiance College relied on a strong second half start to earn an 60-39 victory over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball action on Wednesday night.

Sophomore Anthony Pettaway led the Defiance offense with 20 points and 11 rebounds.  Junior C.J. Johnson added 19 points for the Yellow Jackets.

Freshman Jeff McCartney (Wooster, Ohio/Triway) paced the Engineer attack with seven points on 3-4 from the field.  Sophomore Lorenzo Rice (Grandview, Mo.), junior Phil Sundling (Huntington/North) and senior Brian Bibb (Hoopeston, Ill.) had six points each.

Rose-Hulman closed the first half on a 11-1 spurt after Defiance jumped out to a 22-7 lead in the early going. 

After the Engineers were held to one field goal over the first 12 minutes, baskets by Rice and Sundling made the score 22-7. 

The Engineer defense held Defiance to one point over the final five minutes of the first half and relied on shots by McCartney, Bibb and four free throws to close within 23-18 at halftime. 

Defiance pulled away with a 20-6 run over the first eight minutes of the second half to secure the victory.

Rose-Hulman dropped to 5-8 on the season and 1-4 in HCAC play, while Defiance improved to 10-2 overall and 4-1 in league games.  The Engineers travel to defending league champion Transylvania University on Saturday.

Return to the Engineers' Men's Basketball page