Delaware, Ohio- The DePauw men's basketball team faced another tough challenge, facing off against 17th-ranked Ohio Wesleyan Saturday afternoon. A slow start doomed the Tigers as they could not mount a comeback, falling 76-64.

DePauw dropped to 10-5 overall and 3-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, while the Bishops improved to 12-3 on the year and 7-1 in NCAC play.

First-half struggles plagued the Tigers once again as they did not net their first points until Michael Onuorah made a layup at the 11:10 mark. Trailing 12-2, DePauw was able to climb back behind threes from Bradley Fey, Bob Dillonand Frank Patton III, cutting the deficit to five with 8:31 left.

Just as the Tigers had closed to within five, Ohio Wesleyan responded with a 13-4 run, extending their lead to 29-15 with 4:25 in the half. The Bishops were led by Claude Gray with 15 points and seven rebounds, taking a 34-26 lead at halftime.

Onuorah paced DePauw with 10 points as the team shot 40.7 percent (11-of-27) from the floor. The Tigers committed 12 fouls to Ohio Wesleyan's six and only attempted two free-throws (0-for-2) compared to the Bishops 13 attempts (10-for-13).

In the second half, DePauw was able to cut the lead to five after a layup from Tommy Fernitz and three pointer from Patton. Ohio Wesleyan regained a double-digit lead and extended it to as much as 14. The Tigers battled back to within five, but could not erase the deficit, falling 76-64.

Ohio Wesleyan held a substantial advantage from the charity stripe going 25-for-34 (73.5%) to DePauw's 5-for-12 (41.7%) mark. The Bishops shot 42. 3 percent (22-of-52) from the floor and 25 percent (7-of-28) from three. Gray led all scorers with 23 points, adding 12 rebounds, while Nate Axelrod had 15 points, Ben Simpson had 11 and Nick Felhaber added 10 in the win.

DePauw went 25-for-56 (44.6%) from the floor, including a 9-of-22 (40.9%) mark from three-point land. Onuorah had a team-high 17 points, while Fernitz notched his fourth-straight double-double with 10 points and 13 boards.

Dillon added 11 points and Patton tallied 10 points in a losing effort. The Tigers were outrebounded 39-34, but outscored the Bishops in the paint by a 30-26 margin.

The Tigers return to Neal Fieldhouse Wednesday, January 21, when they host their conference rival Wabash College for a 7:30 p.m. start.