Trailing by four with just under a minute remaining, DePauw was unable to complete the comeback Friday evening in its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference season opener, falling to Birmingham-Southern by a score of 65-57. The Tigers fell to 4-2 on the season and opened SCAC play at 0-1, while undefeated Birmingham-Southern improved to 5-0 (1-0 SCAC).

Birmingham-Southern jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first half, dominating the boards early. DePauw's Ian Rumpp responded with back-to-back treys for his first collegiate points around the 11-minute mark, but the Panthers capitalized on turnovers and received strong contributions from its bench throughout the half.

Jasen Jonus led all scorers with seven points at halftime, as Birmingham-Southern expanded its margin to 31-21. The Panthers shot 44 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes and connected on 4-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc. Rumpp and Joe Bergfeld paced DePauw with six points each at the break.

In the second half, Birmingham-Southern expanded its lead to as many as 17 at 44-27 with 14:28 left. The Tigers battled to stay in the contest, getting crucial treys from Drew Wills and Rumpp down the stretch. Sean Haseley came up big at the free throw line, hitting 7-of-7 in the second half. With six minutes to go, DePauw cut the Panthers' lead to seven on a three-point play by Wills.

Birmingham-Southern extended its margin back out to double-digits in the following minutes until Rumpp and Tommy Weakley responded with a pair of treys on consecutive trips down the floor at the one-minute mark. DePauw forced a turnover, and Haseley was sent to the free throw line on the ensuing possession. Haseley hit both charity tosses, cutting the Panthers' lead to 59-55.

Another turnover gave possession back to DePauw, but the Tigers lost the ball out of bounds with 37 seconds to go. Birmingham-Southern converted a free throw with 34 seconds left to push the lead to 60-55 and the Tigers missed a three-pointer. The Panthers cashed in on four free throws from two DePauw bench technicals and added a fifth on a personal foul to make it 65-55 with just 12.9 seconds remaining.

Kevin Kegarise and Hart Ahumada led Birmingham-Southern with 10 points each, while Mark Messenger collected six rebounds. As a team, the Panthers shot 45.7 percent from the field and were 6-for-16 from the three-point line.

Haseley paced DePauw with 14 points and six rebounds, and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Rumpp and Bergfeld also reached double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively, and Ross Simpson tallied three assists.

DePauw hosts Rhodes on Sunday at 2 p.m., while Birmingham-Southern travels to Centre on Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest.