Greencastle, Ind. - Denison shot 59 percent in the second half and pulled away from DePauw for a 78-69 North Coast Athletic Conference win over the Tigers. DePauw dropped to 11-5 overall and 4-3 in the NCAC, while the Big Red improved to 10-5 overall and 5-1 in league play.

The teams fought through a tight first half that included five ties and nine lead changes. An early 9-2 Tigers run gave DePauw a 13-7 lead, but a 6-0 Big Red stretch evened the score at 13-13 with 8:42 left in the half.

Denison later used an 8-2 run to take its largest lead of the half at 23-19 before the Tigers came back to take a 28-26 lead after Reph Stevenson's jumper with 1:54 remaining. The Big Red scored the next five before DePauw's Joe Smith hit a bucket with less than one second left to cut the Denison lead to 31-30 at the break.

The Big Red scored the first six points of the second half and later stretched the lead to 44-35 after Nick Heath's 3-pointer with 16:18 remaining. DePauw chipped away at the Denison lead and closed to within one at 54-53 on Vince Nixon's layup at the 9:03 mark. Aidan King came right back with a trey which started an 8-1 run by the Big Red to push the lead back to nine at 66-57 with 4:01 left.

Stevenson made a pair of free throws to close the gap to seven, but Denison sealed the win with an 8-2 stretch.

Caleb Washington scored a career-high 24 points, while Stevenson added a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds. Brady Kunka followed with 12 points with Smith and Billy Bach each adding three assists.

Kellon Smith paced Denison with 27 points and three steals with Ellis Appiah adding 10. Liam Taylor grabbed six rebounds with Luke Salkowski dishing out four assists.

DePauw shot 42.4 percent from the field to Denison's 48.2 percent. Each team had 33 rebounds with the Tigers committing 15 turnovers to the Big Red's 12.

The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 21, with an 8 p.m. game at Ohio Wesleyan.