March 11, 2015 By Justin St. Peter

The Warhawks were on the wrong side of history when the Defiance College Yellow Jackets recorded its first NCAA tournament win in a 83-71 loss in the first round of the NCAA D-III Tournament on March 6.

The Yellow Jackets were anchored by senior guard Travis Schomaeker’s 22 second-half points where he went 6-7 from beyond the arc in the second half.

“I believe you could say I was dialed in,” Schomaeker said.

The defending national champion Warhawks, ranked No. 2 overall by d3hoops.com, had no answer for the Yellow Jackets as they hit nine threes in the second half and out-rebounded the ’Hawks 38-28.

“They did a great job rebounding the ball and did a great job on 50/50 balls,” head choach Pat Miller said. “They won those battles, and that generated additional offense for them.”

The ’Hawks came out of the gate sloppy, missing three layups in the first ten minutes. Junior forward Ron Patton was inserted into the lineup 5:30 into the game and provided six points to kick-start the offense.

The Warhawks took the lead when it got out and ran with 7:34 left in the second half. A dunk by senior forward KJ Evans off a nice feed from senior guard Rahjan Muhammad, and a three-point play by senior forward Steve Egan gave them a 25-20 lead two minutes later.

The ’Hawks capped off a 16-8 run when senior guard Quardell Young hit a driving layup with four seconds left in the half.

Despite the slow start, the ’Hawks were able to shoot 57.1 percent from the field in the first half without hitting a three-pointer. They held the Yellow Jackets to 35.7 percent from the field.

“Sometimes you go into half and have a lead and feel like we are going to wear them out and they would go away,” Miller said. “I didn’t have that sense at all.

Miller’s half-time gut feeling proved to be true as the Yellow Jackets came out firing in the second half hitting three straight three-pointers to tie it up at 40 with 16:08 left.

After a few minutes of close back-and forth play, Evans poured in five straight points, including the first three-pointer drained by the Warhawks with 13:43 remaining.

The Yellow Jackets took the lead for good on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Michael Parker 52-51 with 11 minutes left.

Schomaeker then took over with 13 of his points to stretch the lead as the Yellow Jackets kept knocking down threes from farther and farther beyond the arc.

“As an offensive player, when you hit a shot from that deep, your confidence goes up,” Young said. “Continuously they hit them back and forth, so they gained a lot of momentum.”

With 3:04 left, Yellow Jackets senior guard Mason Roth put up a three that was halfway down, before almost rolling out, and then heading back in again. It was just Defiance’s night.

Egan, Evans, Young and Odegaard went to the bench for the final time with less than two minutes left to a standing ovation from the crowd.

The bench brought the final score closer, but to no avail, as the WIAC Conference regular season and tournament champions were sent home after just one postseason game.

The Warhawks were led by Evans who had 17 points and six rebounds. Young, who was just named WIAC Player of the Year, posted 14 points and three blocks, while Egan tallied nine points all in the first half. Odegaard was held scoreless in his final game as a Warhawk.

The Yellow Jackets were led by Jostens Trophy finalist Schomaeker’s 26 points. Roth contributed 19 points and four assists. Senior forward Bernard Edwards poured in 21 points as the Yellow Jackets shot a scorching 9-15 from beyond the arc in the second half.

The Yellow Jackets would be eliminated by St. Olaf University 68-63 the following day also in Kachel Gymnasium.

Miller was proud of his team’s season despite it being their last home postseason loss since 2008 to Loras College.

“We had a great year,” Miller said. “These guys have had incredible careers and really unparalleled careers in school history. It is certainly disappointing to lose at home in the first round, but that is the way it goes sometimes.”

The loss marks a historic run for Young, Egan and Odegaard who were part of two national championships. Evans and senior forward Terrence Bradley were a part of just last year’s run.

“We’re disappointed,” Young said. “If there was a point where we would lose, we didn’t expect it to be in the first round. Sometimes it’s the way the cookie crumbles. We have overcome adversity several times, and this wasn’t one of those times.”