Despite a second half surge from the Wabash College Little Giants, the DePauw Tigers held on for an important 75-74 win Wednesday night at the Neal Fieldhouse.
With 850 fans in attendance, some donning Wabash's red and white school colors, the game could not have had a better ending in the long-standing rivalry.
"Last nights game was more exhilarating than if it were a blowout," said sophomore Michael Hineman.
Hineman has followed the Tigers unit since coming to the University.
"It was the most exciting game of my DePauw tenure," he said.
With a minute and 42 seconds to go and the Tigers leading 73-67, Little Giants' sophomore forward Daniel Purvlicis converted on a layup, trimming the Tigers' lead to four points. Purvlics was fouled on the play and had a chance to make it a one possession game, but he missed his free throw shot.
However, it was not long before the Little Giants had Tiger fans in panic mode. Little Giants' senior forward Pete Nicksic came down the offensive board off of Purclivis' missed free throw and delivered a pass to Little Giants junior guard Houston Hodges.
With a minute 37 seconds left in regulation, Hodges rose for a three point attempt, converting to trim the Tigers' lead to one. After trailing by as many as fifteen points in the first half, the Little Giants had all the momentum going into the final minute of play.
However, sophomore Tiger guard Adam Botts stepped up to the plate, solidifying Wednesday night as his best game as a DePauw Tiger. Following a time out, an impressive cross over on the following possession freed Botts for a mid-range jump shot, which he nailed with 58 seconds on the clock.
Botts seemed to be in tuned all game. He finished the game with a career-high 29 points and converted on 10 of his 15 shot attempts. The bread and butter of Botts' breakout performance came from behind the arc, where he went five for six.
"My mindset was just to be aggressive and play well on both sides of the ball to help our team win," Botts said. "We needed to win to improve our seed in the NCAC tournament. I was just looking to make a play. I had been making shots so I was confident that I could get a good look at the basket and fortunately it went in for us."
Even with Botts' crucial isolation score to get the lead back to six, the game was far from decided with a minute to go. On the following Wabash possession, Botts committed a shooting foul on Wabash junior guard Kasey Oetting.
Despite the DePauw crowd in his ear, Oetting converted on both free throw attempts, making it a one point game with 40 seconds remaining.
Following the Tiger's miss by junior forward Bob Dillon, the Little Giants had an opportunity to come out with the victory in the game's final possession. However, a long pass by Hodges ended up in the hands of Tiger junior center Tommy Fernitz, ending the game.
"Defense has been a big key to our team's success this year, so we know it is extremely important to be focused on the defensive end," Fernitz said. "Overall, I thought we battled their runs in the second half, and Adam Botts along with Bob Dillon hit some keys shots for us."
Dillon joined Botts for his best scoring performance as a Tiger by finishing the contest with 15 points and shooting five for 10 from the field. Fernitz, a six-feet, nine-inches junior center, scored eight points with nine rebounds. He also had a career high five blocks, with several of them coming at crucial defensive stretches.
The loss left the Little Giants 8-15 overall and 7-10 in conference.
The Tigers, currently 17-7 and 12-5 in NCAC play, have only one game remaining before the North Coast Athletic Conference Quarterfinals, which starts on Feb. 25. The team travels to Delaware, Ohio to take on Ohio Wesleyan University for their final regular season game.
The Battling Bishops are currently number 18, as ranked by D3hoops.com. When the Tigers and Battling Bishops squared off last month in Delaware, Ohio, the Tigers lost 64-75.
They are hoping for a better result this time around. Afterward, they have their eyes set on starting NCAC Tournament play.
"I really think our key for the NCAC Tournament is to get back to rebounding the ball like we used to earlier in the year, Fernitz said. "We haven't been rebounding like we know we can so that could definitely help us in the tourny. Also playing tough defense and staying together will determine how far we go."