DEFIANCE, Ohio- The Great Lakes Christian College Men's Basketball team took on Defiance College in the Purple and Gold Championship game Saturday. It was a tale of two halves for the Crusaders. In the first half GLCC dominated the play with stifling pressure defense holding the Yellowjackets to a mere 24 points on 33 percent shooting. Isiah Reed scored 16 of his 23 in the first half to pace the Crusaders to a 36-24 lead. In the second half the script was flipped as Defiance College started chipping away at the Crusader lead. The Crusaders stifling defense was no more, as Defiance got comfortable and started hitting threes. The Yellowjackets went 7/11 from three in the second half. In what proved to be a back and forth game in the second half the Crusaders still controlled play for majority of the half. The game turned when Trent Temple picked up his fifth foul with just over four minutes to go. GLCC had some costly turnovers that allowed the Jackets to secure the lead. GLCC had some chances late but could not get the shots to fall that they needed. Defiance would go onto win 76-70 the Crusaders drop to 2-3 on the year.

Inside the Box Score:

• GLCC was uncharacteristically sloppy with 21 turnovers. Defiance committed 20. This was first time all season the Crusaders turned it over more than their opponents.
• Defiance outrebounded the Crusaders 35-34
• DonTre Garrett and Marcus Riley both played big off the bench for the Crusaders each chipping in 6 points
• Crusaders shot season low 41 percent from the floor compared to Defiance 44 percent
• Isiah Reed was named to the All Tournament Team

What Coach Says:

"Obviously we wanted to win this game, and we played a great 20 minutes of basketball today. It takes forty minutes though, and ultimately we cannot expect to win a game with just one good half. We had some costly turnovers late and our offense got stagnant at points in the second half. Ultimately though it was our defense. We got after it in the first half but in the second half we allowed them to get comfortable and they made us pay when we did not honor our principles." On bench play, "I thought our bench really gave us some valuable minutes today. I was really happy with the way Marcus and DonTre played especially." 

What's Next:

GLCC will hit the road again to travel to Iowa for a weekend series against Grinnell College and #4 William Penn University. The games will be the 23rd and 24th.