After leading by 16 points when they headed into halftime, the DePauw University men’s basketball team dropped their final home game of the year to the visiting Oberlin College Yeomen on Saturday by a score of 76-71.
The Tigers were outscored 52-31 in the second half, and their largest lead at one point was 21 points with under two minutes remaining in the first half.
The Yeomen had four starters in double figures, combining for 59 of their team’s 76 points. The offensive surge by Oberlin in the second half was due in part to the teams 61 percent shooting percentage from the field.
As for the Tigers, the team coughed up the ball 18 times. They lost the turnover battle 18-13 proving to be pivotal for the drastic lead change.
A bright spot for DePauw has been first-year guard Nick Felke, who scored his career-high earlier in the week in a win against Wabash and established a new career-high against Oberlin with 20 points.
Senior Jack VandeMerkt added 14 points of his own to go along with five rebounds. In the second half of the season, VandeMerkt has shown to be the Tigers go-to scoring threat. VandeMerkt has scored in double figures in nine of the team’s final ten games.
The Tigers begin post-season play on Feb. 20 as they hit the road to face the College of Wooster at 6:30 p.m.