The DePauw men's basketball team lost a heated battle against rival Wabash College Wednesday night at Neal Fieldhouse, with a final score of 65-63.
After a three point shot by sophomore guard Michael Wilkison with just 7.7 seconds left on the clock and a mishandled pass by Wabash on the subsequent inbounds play, the Tigers had one more chance to tie or win the game down by just two.
But another desperate shot put up by Wilkison well outside of the three-point line fell off the mark and the Little Giants emerged with the victory.
"We were trying to inbound to [freshman] Connor [Rich] and then swing it around to [senior] Sean [Hassley] to get a drive or a shot, but it kind of got blotched," junior guard Kevin Sullivan said, who inbounded the ball on the play. "We might have been able to move the ball a little more, but Wilkison took the shot he had."
The Tigers beat the Wabash in Crawfordsville only a few weeks ago on Jan. 11 with a score 65-44.
With Wednesday's loss in Neal Fieldhouse, DePauw now falls to fifth in the NCAC as the two teams were previously tied for third with four conferences losses apiece.
DePauw outpaced Wabash in scoring throughout most of the game, but a late second half surge propelled Wabash to hold a three-point lead in the final minutes.
With 3:01 left in the second half, Wabash senior Derek Bailey gave Wabash their first lead of the game with a deep three point shot. DePauw failed to gain back its lead.
Freshman gaurd Connor Rich was the leading scorer for the Tiger's with 17 points, nine of them coming off threes. He also grabbed four rebounds.
The Tigers shot an even 50 percent from the field, but underperformed at the charity strike, shooting 11-19 for 57.9 percent. Overall many scoring opportunities for DePauw were left on the floor.
"We're a good enough team where we can go anywhere and compete in the conference," sophomore student assistant coach Tyler Notch said. "Now we just have to practice and get better at the little things. Saturday is another challenge. We get to go out and compete."
Notch also pointed to the boards as one of the key factors of the game.
"We were out rebounded on the offensive boards. We just did not rebound well," said Notch.
"We played really well. It was a really physical game. I think they outhustled us a little, though. We need to bring a lot more energy to the next game," Sullivan said.
The loss marks DePauw's third straight defeat and drops their overall record to 12-8, 6-5 in NCAC play. Wabash now stands at 15-5 and 7-4 in conference play.
DePauw's next game is Saturday at 5 p.m. against Kenyon College at the Neal Fieldhouse. The game will be broadcast live on 91.5 FM WGRE.