Granville, Ohio - DePauw shot a season-best 63.3 percent from the field and knocked off North Coast Athletic Conference-leading Denison by an 83-79 count. The Tigers improved to 16-7 overall and 9-5 in the NCAC with their fourth straight win, while the Big Red dropped to 14-8 overall and 9-4 in league play.
The first half featured nine ties and 13 lead changes with DePauw leading by as many as five on a couple of occasions with the last coming after a 6-0 Tigers' run made it 33-28 with 6:37 left in the half. Denison's largest lead was four at 43-39 with just over one minute left in the half, but buckets by
Caleb Washington and
Eli Ellis evened the score at 43-43 at the intermission.
DePauw's
Reph Stevenson scored twice in the opening minute of the second half to push its lead to four. The Tigers led by as many as seven after
Andre Ozlowski's jumper made it 58-51 with 14:10 left.
Denison chipped away at the DePauw lead and tied the contest at 66-66 with 7:31 left. Ellis Appiah's 3-pointer gave Denison its first lead of the half at 71-70 with 5:05 remaining, but the Tigers scored the next four to grab a 74-71 advantage.
The Big Red evened the score at 76-76 after Kellon Smith's 3-pointer at the 2:07 mark.
Sam Jacobs countered with a trey and, following a Denison miss, Jacobs made two free throws with 43 seconds left to make it 81-76.
Smith hit one-of-two free throws and, after a DePauw miss, Samson Zack hit two charity tosses to cut the DePauw lead to 81-79 with nine seconds remaining. Washington hit a free throw to extend the lead to three, but Denison missed a three before Washington sealed the win with a free throw.
Jacobs led the Tigers with 24 points, while Washington scored 18 and Stevenson added 17 along with six rebounds.
Patrick Joyce handed out four assists.
Zack led Denison with 15 points with Smith scoring 14 and Owen Giannoulias totaling 13 with nine assists and six rebounds. Nick Heath followed with 11 points and Liam Taylor scored 10.
DePauw hit 63.3 percent from the field to Denison's 49.1 percent and held a 25-21 rebounding advantage.
The Tigers return to action on Wed., Feb. 18, when they host Ohio Wesleyan at 8 p.m.
