January 14, 2012
Greencastle, Ind. - For the second time in four days, DePauw's men faced a top 25 team and for the second straight game, the hot-shooting Tigers came away with a North Coast Athletic Conference victory as they knocked off 16th-ranked College of Wooster, 75-66.
DePauw improved to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the NCAC, while the Fighting Scots dropped to 12-3 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
Wooster scored the game's first two points, but the Tigers' Michael Wilkison hit back-to-back jumpers and a three to give the hosts a 7-2 lead. The Fighting Scots rallied to lead by as many as four at 20-16 after Matt Fegan's three-pointer with 10:46 left in the first half.
DePauw answered with a 9-0 run of its own on a three-point play from Alex Payne, jumpers by Camron Burns and Barry Flynn and a breakaway dunk by Flynn which made it 25-20 with 7:19 remaining. The Tigers headed to the intermission with a 32-26 lead.
Kevin Sullivan's bucket to start the second half gave DePauw a 34-26 lead, but Wooster started chipping away and closed the gap to 38-37 on Xavier Brown's two free throws with 14:25 left.
DePauw scored the next six to push the margin back to seven, but back-to-back treys by Fegan closed the Tigers' lead to 46-45. The Fighting Scots briefly gained a 49-48 advantage on Josh Claytor's layup, but DePauw scored the next five to regain the lead at 53-49.
Brown's layup with 3:52 left knotted the score at 57-57, but Burns hit two free throws and Sean Haseley buried a three with 2:44 left to make it 62-57. Another Wooster miss led to two free throws by Payne and a seven-point DePauw lead with only 1:38 remaining.
Payne's steal and layup followed and the Tigers then nailed 9-of-10 free throws in the final minute for the win.
Wilkison led DePauw with 18 followed by Haseley with 15. Payne added a career-high 14 and Flynn chipped in 10. Tommy Fernitz grabbed a team-high five rebounds with Flynn and Payne each dishing out three assists.
Brown led Wooster with 18, while Doug Thorpe added 14 and Justin Hallowell grabbed seven rebounds. Brown and Jalen Goodwin handed out three assists apiece.
DePauw shot 50 percent from the floor against a Wooster defense which ranked 13th in Division III by allowing opponents just 37 percent shooting. DePauw also held a 31-25 advantage on the boards and committed just eight turnovers.
The Tigers return to the hardwood on Wednesday, January 18, when they travel to Denison for a 6 p.m. NCAC game against the Big Red. Wooster travels to Allegheny on Wednesday.
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