DPU men claim exciting victory

On a Wednesday night where the Tiger men's basketball team was without the services of leading scorer and rebounder Tommy Fernitz, due to illness, DePauw sophomore Clint Cunningham matched his season total in the first half and sophomore Luke Lattner had another big game as DePauw defeated Denison 69-68 at Neal Fieldhouse.

The DPU Tigers improved to 12-6 overall and 5-6 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, while the Big Red dipped to 10-8 overall and 4-7 in the conference.

Lattner's layup with 45 seconds left gave DePauw a 68-67 lead before the Big Red turned it over on their next possession. Connor Rich hit one of two free throws with 27 seconds remaining to give the hosts a two-point advantage.

Denison's Bret Woolard was fouled on a drive with five seconds left and made the first free throw. Following a DePauw timeout, Woolard's second toss glanced off the rim and then off the Tigers and out-of-bounds.

After taking a timeout, Denison inbounded from the left sideline. The pass got through to the right wing where David Meurer scooped it up and got off a three-pointer that hit the rim and bounced off just before the horn sounded.

The Tigers held a 27-24 lead late in the first half before Lattner hit one of two free throws with 1:25 remaining.

Lattner added two more free tosses with 53 seconds left and before Denison crossed halfcourt on the ensuing possession, its bench was whistled for a pair of technical fouls. Lattner sank all four shots to make it 34-24.

Andrew Castagnetti's layup with seven seconds left ended the run, but Lattner buried a three at the horn to send the Tigers to the locker room with a 37-26 lead. Lattner led all scorers with 18 and 10 came in the final 1:25. Cunningham had 13 in the opening 20 minutes which matched his season output in 11 previous games.

With DePauw holding a 39-30 edge early in the second half, Denison quickly evened the count as Matthew Bauer, Meurer and Robby Weingart each hit threes to even the score at 39-39 with 14:43 left.

Denison eventually led by as many as six with just under 11 minutes remaining after John Cheng knocked in a three. The Big Red maintained the lead until Lattner's layup with 4:59 left evened the score at 60-60.

Lattner's bucket at the 1:44 mark broke a 62-62 deadlock, but Denison's Darius White countered with a three to give the guests a 65-64 advantage with 1:19 left and set up the exciting finish.

Lattner finished with 28, while Cunningham totaled a career-high 17 points and Bob Dillon added 10.

Dillon matched a career high with eight rebounds and shared the team lead with Johnson who also grabbed eight. Nate Jahn added three assists and two steals.

Meurer was Denison's lone double-figure scorer with 11, while Briggs Kings snagged a game-high 15 rebounds. Cheng dished out a game-high four assists.

The Tigers shot 43.1 percent for the game to Denison's 42.1 percent, but DePauw connected on 54.2 percent in the second half. DePauw held a narrow 36-34 edge on the boards and committed just nine turnovers.

DePauw hosts Oberlin on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 3 p.m. with the annual alumni game to follow.