The men's basketball team huddles up before practice
after a crushing 54-53 defeat to Wittenberg.
DePauw is 8-7 in the NCAC heading in to their away match up
against conference rival Kenyon College on saturday.
SAM CARAVANA/THE DEPAUW
Wittenberg University just narrowly snapped the DePauw University Tigers four game-winning streak Wednesday night. The Tigers fell to the visitors by a final score of 54-53 at Neal Fieldhouse.
The Tigers dropped to 15-7 on the season while Wittenberg improved to 9-13. In addition to the drop in overall record, the Tiger's standing within the North Coast Athletic Conference also took a hit.
DePauw fell to 8-7 in conference play while the Tigers of Wittenberg improved to 7-8 on the season. This puts Wittenberg just one game behind DePauw for the fourth and final spot in the NCAC tournament coming up at the end of the regular season.
Both teams struggled to gain offensive momentum early in the game. The Tigers only shot 36.7 percent from the floor while Wittenberg committed 12 turnovers. DePauw had an offensive spark with a 7-0 lead beginning at the 13:39 mark in the first half.
Wittenberg was able to fight through offensive adversity and was able to tie the score at 25 before junior Bradley Fey scored the final five points of the first half. The Tigers ended the half up 32-27, while shooting 11-30 from the floor, and 3-8 from three.
The Tigers started the second half with a 15-4 run. From 11:58 to 6:14, both teams struggled offensively once again and failed to score any points. Wittenberg’s Cody Phillippi was fouled and hit both free throws with 51 seconds left.
After missing two threes in the final moments of the game Patton nailed a long three pointer with 6.5 seconds left. The Tigers trailed by one possession but it was Phillippi again making final free throws to close out the game.
Patton hit a three pointer at the closing seconds however time expired. The Tigers fell 54-53 shooting a dreadful 25.8 percent from the field in the second half as they saw their lead evaporate.
“When the shots don’t fall, that isn’t even enough,” sophomore Clint Cunningham said to sum up DePauw’s evening.
The Tigers did get senior forward Tommy Fernitz back in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 24. Fernitz showed a little rust as head coach Bill Fenlon worked him back in. In only 16 mintues on the floor, Fernitz scored five points on just 2-of-7 shooting and pulled in four rebounds.
Junior Mark Johnson spoke about how important it will be for the Tigers to bounce back from the loss.
“It is just imperative over the next couple of weeks that we work hard in practice to once again learn how to mesh as a unit,” Johnson said.
Johnson also went on to describe what the Tigers have to do going forward.
“It is just imperative over the next couple of weeks that we work hard in practice to once again learn how to mesh as a unit,” Johnson said.
Sophmore Luke Latner shared similar sentiments.
“We just have to keep pushing forward,” Lattner said looking forward. “We have to keep playing defense and rebounding the basketball. We weren’t good on the boards last night to win so we have to make sure that travels with us to Kenyon and Wabash.”
DePauw travels to Kenyon College, Saturday Feb. 14. DePauw currently sits 4th in a tight conference race.