West Indy News

Second-Half Run Lifts Wooster to NCAC Win over Tigers

Visiting Wooster scored the game's final nine points and held DePauw without a field goal over the last nine minutes on the way to a 68-54 North Coast Athletic Conference win over the Tigers. DePauw's five-game win streak came to an end as the Tigers dropped to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in the NCAC, while the Fighting Scots improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

The first half included seven ties and three lead changes with Wooster gaining its biggest lead at 16-11 after Jamir Billings nailed a three with 12:55 left in the first half. DePauw responded with a 5-0 run as Camden Brown hit a three and Sam Jacobs hit two free throws to even the score.

DePauw grabbed a three-point lead on a pair of occasions late in the opening half with the second coming at 34-31 when Brown hit a trey with 1:25 left. Billings evened the scored at 34-34 with a three-pointer just 22 seconds later and that wrapped up the scoring for the half.

The Tigers trailed briefly at the start of the second half, but scored six straight on a three-point play by Grant Gohmann and an Elijah Hales three-pointer to take their biggest lead at 40-36 with 18:26 remaining.

Wooster rattled off the next seven capped by Turner Kurt's bucket with 14:54 left that pushed the guests' lead to 43-40. Grant Niego's three-point play drew DePauw even again before Wooster extended the margin to four at 47-43. Brown hit two free throws with 12:09 remaining before Kyle Lillwitz scored on a layup with 9:31 left to make it 47-47. That was the Tigers' final field goal of the game. Brown made two free throws at the 7:01 mark to trim Wooster's lead to 52-50 but Elijah Meredith came back with a trey to expand the lead to five. 

Nolan Niego's two free throws closed the gap to 55-52, but Carter Warstler's bucket and Kurt's two charity tosses made it 59-52 with 5:11 left. Nolan Niego made two more free throws with 4:13 left, but the Fighting Scots closed the game by scoring the final nine points.

Brown paced DePauw with 15 points, while Hales added 11. Gohmann grabbed five rebounds and Grant Niego dished out four assists in the loss. 

Kurt led Wooster with 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds with Billings adding 15 points and Meredith 14. Najee Hardaway hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds and handed out six assists.

DePauw shot 32.7 percent for the game and just 17.4 percent in the second half after missing its final 12 shots. Wooster connected on 45 percent from the floor and held a 45-23 edge on the boards. The Fighting Scots grabbed 15 offensive boards and held a 12-6 advantage in second-chance points.

Original source can be found here.