With their 62-60 heartbreaker of a loss to Oberlin College on Saturday night, the 23 ranked DePauw men's basketball team fell to 14-5 this season and 9-3 in the NCAC.
Despite senior guard Mike Wilkison's late jumper to give DePauw the lead with just over three minutes remaining, the Yeomen snatched the win over the Tigers with two late buckets and held the Tigers at bay just long enough to preserve the win.
The Tigers won nine of their last ten games going into the Oberlin College matchup, including their game against Denison University three days prior to the Oberlin game, 68-63. Senior center Tommy Fernitz provided his eighth double-double in the last ten games against Denison.
The win over Denison came in the wake of a momentous four-point win over the at the time number two ranked College of Wooster. Junior guard Frank Patton commented on the effect of the College of Wooster win on the Denison University matchup.
"I would say only a little momentum spilled over into the Denison game because as a team we try to take it one game at a time," Patton said. "Win or lose. Denison is a totally different team and we had a totally different game plan so we had to put the Wooster win behind us and focus on Denison.".
With the loss, Denison University fell to 4-7 in conference play with an 8-10 overall record. But with a win in their last matchup, Denison improved to 5-7 in conference and 9-10 overall placing them just two slots behind the Tigers in conference. Four games remain in the regular season.
In their most recent game against Oberlin, a turnover by the Tigers with 38 seconds remaining seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for DePauw as they could not come back to win the game.
DePauw is only one game behind the two leaders in the conference, Ohio Wesleyan University and the Wooster. An end of the season push for the regular season number one seed is not out of the realm of possibility, but the only team ahead of the Tigers in the conference remaining on the schedule is Ohio Wesleyan University. In order for DePauw to attain the number one seed, they will have to attempt to stay hot over the final four games in addition to the leaders of the conference slipping up.