Visiting Mount St. Joseph gave 25th-ranked DePauw all it could handle shooting 42.9 percent from beyond the arc, but the Tigers were able to withstand the Lions' charge and hold on to an 80-74 victory.

With the win the Tigers improved to 4-0 on the year, while Mount St. Joseph dropped to 3-1. DePauw is off to its best start since the 2010-11 season.

Trailing through the majority of the first half, the Tigers mounted a late run over the final three minutes ignited by an Adam Botts three-pointer to enter the break leading 33-27.

DePauw was able to maintain a two-possession lead for most of the second half until the five-minute mark when the Lions' Joel Scudder connected from three to cut the Tigers' lead to 63-61. Botts answered with a three of his own before Scudder nailed a second long ball keeping Mount St. Joseph in the game.

The Lions would cut the DePauw lead to just one point before Tommy Fernitz and Pat Haggin took over and secured the Tigers' victory. Fernitz and Haggin accounted for 10 of DePauw's 13 points over the final 3:20 of the game.

Haggin paced the Tigers with a career-high 26 points and added nine rebounds, while Fernitz grabbed five rebounds and totaled a career-high 17 points.

Bradley Fey had a career-best seven assists and Botts matched his career high scoring 17 points in the win.

DePauw shot 58.0 percent from the floor to Mount St. Joseph's 44.0 percent. The Lions did outshoot the Tigers from the charity stripe going 21-26 (80.8%) to DePauw's 15-21 (71.4%). The battle in the paint was won by DePauw outscoring their opponent 36-22.

Scudder led Mount St. Joseph with a game-high 29 points going 6-10 from three-point range. Ken Kunkel added 14 points in a losing effort.

The Tigers return to action on Sunday, December 1, when they travel to Washington-St. Louis. Sunday's game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. (Central) start.