DePauw men see winning streak come to end in loss to Wabash

Josh Hall goes up for two of his 18 points.

DePauw photo

An early second-half slump and poor free throw shooting did not help DePauw on Wednesday as they fell to NCAC rival Wabash 77-75.

The loss snaps a four-game win streak for the Tigers, who now sit at 7-9 overall and 3-6 in the NCAC. Wabash improves to 8-8 overall and 4-5 in conference play.

Riley Doody scored a career-high 12 points as did Nolan Ginther, who scored eight off the bench. Josh Hall fell one shy of his best game, finishing with 18 and leading DePauw with seven rebounds.

All five Wabash starters finished in double digits in scoring. Jack Davidson tied Hall with a game-high 18 points, and Harrison Hallstrom posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

DePauw looked as if it was going to pull away up 11 with four minutes remaining in the half. However, Wabash closed the gap to two to make it a 41-39 score at halftime.

The Tigers continued to struggle to start the second half as Wabash made a 12-1 run in the first six minutes. Doody gave DePauw its first basket of the second half at 13:24 to make it 51-44.

It was then DePauw’s turn to cut the deficit as they got to within one, 56-55, with 9:23 remaining. The Tigers eventually tied it at 60-60, but they could not retake the lead.

Hall made two 3-pointers toward the end of regulation to make it a 73-72 game with 40 seconds remaining, but the defense could not get a stop on the other end as Colten Garland made a layup with 23 seconds to go.

Hall took another 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining but it fell short. Nick Felke connected on one with four seconds on the clock but it fell too little, too late as the Tigers could not get another shot off in time.

Free throws hindered DePauw once again. After going a perfect 7-of-7 in the first half, DePauw shot 58 percent (10-of-17) in the second half. Wabash meanwhile shot 87 percent (20-of-23) for the game.

The two teams were fairly close in other categories. DePauw shot 48 percent (25-of-52) from the floor compared to the 44 percent (24-of-55) Wabash shot. However, Wabash was a tick above from 3-point range at 53 percent (9-of-17) to DePauw’s 38 percent (8-of-21).

Wabash outrebounded the Tigers 33-28 and outscored them in second chance points 7-2. DePauw outscored the Little Giants 34-20 in the paint, 11-4 off turnovers, 6-0 on fast break and 33-16 off the bench.

DePauw still holds a 122-89-1 series lead, which dates back to 1903, and a 27-8 mark in Neal Fieldhouse contests.

DePauw returns home at 1 p.m. Saturday for another NCAC matchup against Ohio Wesleyan.

The No. 9-ranked DePauw women will battle Ohio Wesleyan at home at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

in Neal Fieldhouse.