Three seniors scored 65 points out of the 95 total points that DePauw University’s men’s basketball team secured, giving the team a crucial home conference victory against Denison with a final score of 95-87 on Feb. 7 .
Senior point guard Mason Hankins was prolific from behind the arc shooting a perfect 6-6 from three point range, and scoring a career-high 26 points.
Senior power forward Jack VanderMerkt added 20 points of his own off the bench to improve DePauw’s record to 10-12 on the season and 6-9 in conference play.
Overall as a team, the three point shooting made all the difference. The Tigers shot 71 percent (10-14) from three point range, allowing them to pull away down the stretch in the second half.
Senior guard David Vogel contributed with 16 points of his own, while dishing out a career-high 7 assists.
The bench for the Tigers also played a big factor, providing much needed depth to outlast the Big Red. DePauw’s bench outscored Denison 49-7.
After losing a 15 point lead late in the second half, Denison was able to climb back to within two 77-75. However it wasn’t enough as the Tigers were able to close out the game on an 8-0 run to mark their third win in a row.
Denison moves to 11-11 on the season and 7-8 in conference.
The Tigers look to carry their momentum into Saturday as they travel to Kenyon for a 3 pm tipoff. In the Tigers last meeting with Kenyon on Jan. 6, DePauw prevailed by a final score of 54-39.