Junior Adam Botts prepares for a free throw during a game last season.
The Tigers are 4-1 in the current season.
THE DEPAUW ARCHIVES
With the shot clock turned off and the Tigers down by two, senior Frank Patton III drove the length of the floor and fired an offline pass to classmate Tommy Fernitz who missed a chance to send the Tigers and the Denison University Big Red to overtime.
That was the scene Wednesday night in Granville, Ohio as the 18th ranked Tigers (4-1, 0-1) fell at the hands of the Big Red (5-1, 1-0) 67-65.
Currently three of the 10 North Coast Athletic Conference schools are among the nation’s top 25 teams, so losses to unranked squads like Denison hurt especially bad.
“It’s just so competitive,” head Coach Bill Fenlon said. “Everyone’s so good and capable, there’s a lot of good players and a lot of good teams. The margins for error are just a lot thinner than most people recognize.”
Denison led most of the way through the first 20 minutes but the Tigers cut the Big Red lead to one late, as senior Connor Rich hit a pair of threes to close out the first half.
Neither team had a strong shooting performance in the first half as both schools were held under 40 percent shooting from the field.
The Big Red opened the second half strong, jumping out to a 13 point lead just six minutes in. After the Tigers closed the gap, Denison got to work stretching it out once again and worked the deficit back up to 13 with less than 10 minutes to play in the contest.
“When you’re down like that on the road, it’s easy to go down 20 and let that lead extend but we had some mentally tough guys in a hostile environment,” senior Bob Dillon said.
After clawing their way back, Fernitz headed to the charity stripe with 24 seconds remaining and the Tigers trailing 64-62. The senior missed on his first attempt and made his second cutting the Big Red lead to one.
“It was a tough part of the game,” Fernitz said. “You know I hadn’t come out of the game in the second half so I was pretty fatigued and tired overall and just left it short a little bit.”
That miss would be costly as the Tigers were forced to foul and Denison’s David Meurer made both attempts to give the Big Red a three-point lead.
A layup by sophomore Luke Lattner moved the Tigers once again within one point but with seven seconds remaining, Briggs King converted on one of two free throws and gave the Big Red a two point lead.
Instead of going for the win, DePauw head coach elected to go for the tie instead of the win and drew up the play for Fernitz. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Patton and Fernitz couldn’t convert and the Tigers dropped their opening conference matchup of 2014.
Fernitz lead all scorers with 21 points and added nine total rebounds with five of those coming on the offensive glass. He also added four blocks in the effort. Connor Rich chipped in with 17 points off of the bench.
It was tough sledding for senior guard Adam Botts who only played 20 minutes and 0-4 shooting from the floor. It’s been a slow start for Botts who has only reached double figures in one of the Tigers five games and has been held to less than 30 percent shooting on three separate occasions.
“He’s a little bit streaky,” Fenlon said. “You know he’s got to be a little bit more careful with his shot selection and he’s a shooter and he’s got to be tough enough mentally to play through that. I’m confident that he will.”
Saturday would be a good time for Botts and the Tigers to turn things around as they host a College of Wooster squad that is currently ranked 10th in the nation. The Fighting Scots will come into Saturday’s tilt off of two straight losses, however, including a 92-89 loss to 14th ranked Ohio Wesleyan University.
Tip off for this top-25 showdown is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Neal Fieldhouse.