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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Defiance College junior Michael Parker buried a 13-foot baseline shot at the buzzer to secure hosting rights for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament in a 73-72 win at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon.
Rose-Hulman held a 72-71 lead with 2.6 seconds remaining, and Defiance junior Tyler Alexander drew a foul to shoot a one-and-one. Alexander missed the front end of the free throw tosses, and after a scramble, a jump ball led to one final Defiance timeout with 0.7 seconds remaining.
After three timeouts by the two teams, Alexander inbounded a pass to Parker, who hit a well defended fadeaway 13-footer at the buzzer to lift the Yellow Jackets to the victory.
With the win, Defiance earns the No. 1 seed for next weekend's HCAC Tournament and will host the six-team event. Rose-Hulman opens the tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. as the No. 4 seed, facing No. 5 Manchester. The winner of Rose-Hulman vs. Manchester will face Defiance on Saturday.
Alexander led Defiance with 23 points, and Devin Mangas came off the bench with 16 for the Yellow Jackets. Parker had 12 points, including the game winner.
Senior Dillon Reynolds led the Rose-Hulman offensive attack with 20 points. Senior Jimmy Miller reached double figures with 12 points on 4-5 from the field and 3-4 on the foul line.
Senior Matt Loesing reached double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds. Senior Tyler Duffy was the fourth Fightin' Engineer in double figures with 11 points and six assists.
In addition to Duffy, Loesing, Miller and Reynolds, the Fightin' Engineers also honored seniors Brian Decker and Mitch Williams prior to tipoff at their final home game at Hulbert Arena.
Rose-Hulman led by as many as 11 points midway through the second half, but Defiance relied on 78% shooting in the second half to whittle away the deficit and earn the last second win.
Rose-Hulman completes the regular season at 15-10 overall and 12-6 in conference play. Defiance will host the six-team HCAC Tournament after finishing 13-5 in league play and 15-10 overall.
