Senior guard Mike Wilkison's first half, buzzer beater just past half court against the second ranked Fighting Scots embodied DePauw's shooting on Saturday. Wilkison's 23 points led the Tigers to victory.
DePauw's men's basketball defeated the second ranked The College of Wooster's Fighting Scots 78-74 in a closely matched battle. The Tigers shot 60 percent in the first half on their way to one of their biggest victories this season. The win saw DePauw improve to 13-4 on the year and 8-2 in the NCAC. The Fighting Scots fell to 15-2 overall and 9-1 in conference play.
In the end, however, rebounding and shooting made the difference for the Tigers as they shot 66 percent from the three point range, and junior center Tommy Fernitz collected 10 rebounds in addition to his 19 points.
Especially with a top ranked team such as Wooster, the Tigers had to prepare for a tricky offense, execute on defense and keep focused. Fernitz commented on these keys to DePauw's success.
"We knew they had some strong guard play, those are obviously their best players, and they run a very NBA style offense. And rebounding was a big thing which I think we did really well," Fernitz said.
The first half was a shot-for-shot nail biter with both teams vying for the lead, with one point separating the two teams for most of the half. The half featured 13 lead changes and seven ties. Both teams were relentless in their drive to the basket
Fernitz provided his team with boosts of energy with huge blocks keeping the Fighting Scots offense at bay. Twice in quick succession during the second half Fernitz got a rise out of the hometown crowd denying shots in the lane.
"Our game plan was to keep them in front of us, force them to their weak hands and communicate on defense. When you play a team like Wooster, you have to lock in a little bit better, and I think we did," Fernitz said.
Contributions came from all over the court for the Tigers with Junior point guard Frank Patton III, who had a career high 14-point performance, in addition to top scorers of the night Wilkison and Fernitz. Rounding out top scorers for the Tigers, first-year guard Luke Lattner adding 10 points off the bench.
Patton commented on his contribution.
"My mindset was to be aggressive. I knew what we would get out of Fern and Wilks, and I also knew Wooster didn't have a much respect for me as a scorer. So I just wanted to be aggressive and get the ball to what we call 'the magic spot' and just had to make the right plays," Patton said.
With the victory the Tigers are looking to move forward and improve as a team ahead of the NCAC and NCAA tournaments. After receiving sporadic top 25 votes over the past couple of weeks, a victory over a top five team could be exactly what DePauw needs to solidify themselves in the country rankings.
"We just wanted to give these guys their first loss and show them that the DePauw Tigers are for real, and we did. We really established ourselves with that win. We've always had a bit of a chip on our shoulder, since the season started," Fernitz said.
The Tigers were back in action this week, as well. with another win over Denison University on Wednesday defeating the Big Red 68-63. With the win over the Big Red, DePauw climbed to 14-4 on the season with a 9-2 conference record. Denison fell to 8-10 overall and 4-7 in the NCAC.
The Tigers are back in action on Saturday at the Neal Field House as the DePauw men take on Ohio Weslyan. despite solid defense from both teams.
The second half was a different story, however, with the Tigers controlling much of the game.