DELAWARE, OHIO -- Sophomore wing Ben Simpson sank a pair of free throws to give 13th-ranked Ohio Wesleyan a 63-62 lead, but DePauw closed the game with a 7-2 run to upset the Bishops, 69-65, in a semifinal contest of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament on Friday at Branch Rickey Arena.

The Tigers advance to the NCAC tournament championship game for the first time and will face Wooster, a 68-55 winner over Wabash in Friday's opening semifinal, with the NCAC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III tournament on the line.

Ohio Wesleyan had built a 57-48 lead, with freshman wing Will Orr burying a pair of 3-pointers and senior wing Nick Felhaber another to fuel a 9-2 Ohio Wesleyan run.  A Simpson jumper with 7:19 left in regulation time restored the 9-point Bishop margin at 59-50.

DePauw answered with a 12-0 run to take the lead, getting a 3-pointer from Bob Dillon and lay-ins from Frank Patton III, Dillon and Tommy Fernitz before a 3-point play by Patton put the Tigers ahead, 62-59, with 2:59 remaining.

Junior post Claude Gray hit a pair of free throws with 2:48 left and Simpson sank a pair from the stripe with 1:42 remaining to give the Bishops a 63-62 lead.  The Bishops recorded a stop on the other end, but Gray's drive to the basket wouldn't fall with 1:08 left, and Fernitz hit a jumper from the lane for a 64-63 DePauw lead with :46 to play, and after a miss by freshman guard Nate Axelrod, Luke Lattner hit a pair of free throws with :26 left to give the Tigers a 66-63 advantage.

Gray brought the Bishops within 66-65 with a jumper from the lane, but Lattner answered with a pair of free throws with :13 to play, and after Felhaber misfired on a potential game-tying 3-pointer, Dillon hit the second of 2 free throws with :04 left for the 69-65 final.

The Bishops used an 8-0 run midway through the first half to take the lead.  After 4 ties and 4 lead changes during the early going, junior post Joey Kinsley converted a 3-point play, Orr followed with a free throw, and junior post Matt Jeske sank a 3-pointer for a 26-19 Ohio Wesleyan lead.

DePauw would narrow the gap to 3 points, but a 7-0 Bishop run that included lay-ins by Simpson and Axelrod and an Axelrod 3-pointer opened up a 33-23 lead with 6:08 left in the first half.

The Tigers pulled within 35-33 with the help of a 3-pointer and a lay-in from Dillon, but Simpson collected a 3-point play, a lay-in, and a 3-pointer during the final 2-plus minutes of the half to help Ohio Wesleyan to a 43-35 lead at the break.

Patton III had a lay-in and a 3-pointer as DePauw narrowed the deficit to 45-43 early in the second half, and after a Fernitz 3-point play and a Felhaber 3-pointer, the Bishops took off on their 9-2 run.

Jeske led the Bishops with 16 points.  Simpson finished with 14 points and a team-leading 8 rebounds, while Axelrod and Orr finished with 11 points apiece.

Furnitz led DePauw with 22 points.