Tampa, Fla.- The DePauw men's basketball team opened play in the Tampa Bay Shootout with a 73-63 victory over Washington College Monday night at Tampa Prep. The Tigers play Wisconsin-Eau Claire in tomorrow's 3 p.m. championship game. The Blugolds topped Hobart, 83-78, in double overtime in the second game.
With the win, DePauw improved to 6-3, while the Shoremen dropped to 1-9 and will play Hobart in tomorrow's 1 p.m. third-place game. Complete tournament information is available from the official site.
The Tigers started strong making their first four shots to start the game on a 9-2 run. Washington answered with their own 10-0 run, taking a 12-9 lead with 13:13 remaining in the half. Both teams would jockey for the lead, but DePauw would ultimately take a 30-23 edge at halftime.
Bob Dillon and Tommy Fernitz each tallied nine points to pace all scorers in the half. The Tigers shot 42.3 percent in the half, while holding Washington to 26.7 percent shooting.
DePauw held a ten point lead with 7:56 remaining in the contest before the Shoremen used a 9-3 run to cut the deficit to just four with 3:31 left. Dillon made a layup to stretch the lead back to six, but Dave Knox answered with a layup just one minute later to cut the lead once again.
Frank Patton III went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, extending the lead to five with 1:20 remaining. Following a Washington missed jumper, Patton grabbed the rebound and was able to convert a layup on the other end. Connor Rich went 4-for-4 on free-throw attempts in the closing seconds to seal the victory, while Mark Johnson added a free throw with seven seconds left to round out the scoring.
Despite going just 4-of-13 from the floor, Luke Lattner was able to hit 7-of-9 free throws on his way to a career-high 17 points. Fernitz matched Lattner's output, adding a team-high eight rebounds, while Dillon notched 11 points.
Knox had a game-high 24 points and 15 rebounds in a losing effort, while James Drurytotaled 17 points in the loss. Washington shot just 38.6 percent (22-57) from the floor, going 4-of-17 (23.5%) from three.
The Tigers shot 47.1 percent (24-51) from the floor and 5-of-11 (45.5%) from three-point range. DePauw won the battle in the paint by a 36-30 margin and forced 15 turnovers, while committing 13 with 15 assists. Both teams nabbed 35 rebounds.
In the evening's second game, UW-Eau Claire overcame a 42-27 halftime deficit with a 16-2 run over the openign seven minutes of the second half and eventually won the contest in the second overtime.
Jacob Kohner paced the Blugolds with 25 points, while Tyson Kallen followed with 24. LewisMau added 12 and Kurtis Moody 10. Eric Effertz handed out eight assists and Mau hauled down 12 rebounds.
Connor Rehbaum led Hobart with 16 points followed by Andrew Hoy with 14, Trey Blandingwith 13 and Jake Rayburn with 11. Blanding handed out 10 assists and Rehbaum grabbed eight rebounds.