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December 30, 2009, Defiance, Ohio —  Host Defiance broke open a tight game with a 13-1 run in the second half and claimed an 89-75 victory over DePauw in the Purple and Gold Financial Tournament championship game. DePauw dropped to 8-3 with the loss, while the Yellow Jackets improved to 9-2.

DePauw put together a 12-2 stretch in the first half to grap its biggest lead of the game at 30-23 with 6:39 remaining in the half. Defiance scored the next five and closed the half with a 14-3 stretch for a 37-33 halftime lead.

Defiance opened the second half by scoring the first six points and expanded the lead to 43-33 before the Tigers scored seven straight to pull back to within three. The Yellow Jackets eventually stretched the lead to 11 at 51-40, but DePauw responded with an 8-1 run to trim the lead to 52-48.

The Tigers drew within one at 58-57 on David Gray's charity toss with 9:53 left. Mike Floyd knocked in a three and added a bucket to push Defiance's lead to 63-57. The Tigers' Sean Haseley countered with a three before Defiance embarked on its 13-1 run which put the Tigers away.

Drew Wills led the Tigers with 13, while Tony James, Haseley and Tom Callen each scored 12 and Steve Lemasters followed with 10. Callen grabbed eight rebounds and James dished out three assists. Haseley and James earned spots on the all-tournament team.

Nick Sales paced Defiance with 23 points followed by Kyle Tietje with 20. Anthony Brown and Heath Armstrong each scored 14 in the win. Sales led the way with seven rebounds and Mike Floyd totaled 13 assists.

Defiance shot just over 54 percent from the field to DePauw's 44 percent.

The Tigers return to Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action on Sunday, January 3, when they travel to Centre for a 3 p.m. contest.

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