Crawfordsville, Ind. - Despite a career-high 21 points from
Sam Jacobs, DePauw couldn't overcome 58.5 percent shooting from host Wabash and fell to the Little Giants, 89-79. The Tigers dropped to 14-7 overall and 6-6 in the North Coast Athletic Conference and the Little Giants improved to 16-4 overall and 9-2 in conference play.
DePauw jumped out to a 9-2 lead as
Camden Brown scored the first four before
Grant Niego hit a jumper and
Grant Gohmann nailed a 3-pointer. The Tigers still led by seven at 16-9 after Jacobs hit a bucket with 13:54 left in the half. Ahmoni Jones and Vinny Buccilla hit back-to-back threes.
Ronald Johnson stopped the run with a basket before Sam Comer and Buccilla hit jumpers to give Wabash its first lead of the game at 19-18. The Tigers regained the lead briefly, but Wabash pulled away for a 38-32 halftime advantage.
DePauw closed the gap to two when Jacobs scored with 17:16 left to make it 42-40. Wabash pushed the margin to nine at 53-44 before DePauw scored seven straight on baskets from Brown and Jacobs and a trey by
Elijah Hales. The Tigers were within one at 60-59 on another three from Hales, but Josh Whack's three-point play expanded the Wabash advantage to four..
Wabash again stretched the lead to nine at 74-65 and DePauw clawed back to within four at 76-72 after
Camden Brown's two free throws with 3:!1 remaining. Comer made it 78-72 and the Tigers couldn't convert after an offensive rebound and Comer pushed the lead to 80-72 with a bucket at the 2:00 mark. Hales' basket made it a six-point game, but Comer buried a three and then hit two free throws to cap a stretch of nine straight Wabash points to push the lead to 85-74.
Jacobs' 21 came with 3-of-5 three-point shooting, while Hales added 18 points and also connected on 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Brown added 11 and
Grant Niego followed with 10. Jones led Wabash with 27 followed by Buccilla with 25 and 14 each from Comer and Whack.
Wabash held a 30-29 rebounding edge as Buccilla grabbed five and Gohmann paced DePauw with six. Jacobs and
Grant Niego each had three assists for DePauw and Comer led Wabash with five.
DePauw shot 45.3 percent from the field while Wabash's 58.5 percent included 62.5 percent in the first half.
The Tigers host Denison on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m.
