Tigers look for better defense in tourney

DePauw University men’s basketball coach Bill Fenlon will be looking for a stronger defensive effort in the opening round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament than the Tigers put for Saturday afternoon against the Oberlin College Yeomen. The Tigers play Wooster College in the first round of the conference tournament today at 6 p.m.

Just three days after making a huge defensive stand to beat rival Wabash in Crawfordsville, the now 11-14 Tigers blew a 21-point lead in the second half while losing 76-71 to the Yeomen on Senior Day at Neal Fieldhouse.

“We stopped them four times in the second half. I don’t think you got much chance of winning (playing that way),” DePauw’s Fenlon said of the Senior Day effort.

Paced by freshmen Josh Hall, Ken Decker and Nick Felke, the Tigers put together a 19-6 run to build a 38-17 lead on Oberlin (12-14) with 1:38 left in the opening half. Oberlin countered with a 7-2 run of its own the final 1:38 of the half, but DePauw still led by 16, 40-24, at halftime.

The Yeomen’s closing run of the half should have warned the Tigers. DePauw couldn’t keep Oberlin away from the rim the second half and hurt themselves, at the same time, with mistakes.

“It’s not a great match up for us. They really got you spread out. Our post guys needed to be a little more active, our perimeter guys didn’t do a good job keeping the ball in front of them. We fouled at the end of shot clocks. We just did everything... and we gave up offensive rebounds when we did get stops. And all of those offensive rebounds, I think it was eight total, they all end up in buckets,” Fenlon said of the second half.

Felke, a freshman who led the Tigers with 20 points, scored a three-point play to keep the Tigers up 60-53 with nine minutes to play. But less than four minutes later Oberlin converted a DePauw turnover into a 64-63 lead with 5:45 to play.

The lead changed hands three times before Felke it two free throws and senor Jack VandeMerkt netted a hook shot to give the Tigers a 69-66 lead with 4:08 to play.

With 1:25 left and DePauw clinging to a 71-70 lead, the Tigers turned the ball over. The Yeomen hit six straight free throws over the final 1:04 to cap the rally.

“They were just incredibly efficient offensively. You got to give them credit, but our defensive effort was pretty poor in the second half,” Fenlon said

Felke’s 20 points paced the Tigers and VandeMerkt netted 14 in his final home game.

“(Felke’s) going to be a really good player. He’s got poise, he’s got a really good skill set, he can drive it, shoot it,” Fenlon said.

OBERLIN (76) — Silverman-Lloyd 6-10 1-2 16, Campbell 49 8-8 26, Fioretti 5-10 2-2 12, Friedkin 4-12 4-4 15, Tiedemann 1-3 0-0 2, Rosow 2-4 0-2 5, Finestone 2-3 0-0 4, Moser 0-0 0-0 0, Godfrey 0-2 0-0 0, Suppa 0-0 0-0 0, Armstrong 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 27-57 FG, 15-18 FT, 76 TP.

DEPAUW (71) — VandeMerkt 4-8 6-8 14, Nettles 0-1 0-0 2, Hankins 1-2 0-0 3, Clarke 3-5 0-0 7, Vogel 2-7 0-0 4, Felke 7-9 6-7 20, Steinhart 0-1 0-0 0, Decker 1-1 2-2 5, Kus 1-2 0-1 2, Hall 4-6 3-3 11, Ginther 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 25-45 FG, 17-21 FT, 71 TP.

Halftime score: DePauw 40, Oberlin 24. 3Pt. FG: OC 7-20 (Silverman-Llody 3-5, Friedkin 3-9, Rosow 1-3, Fioretti 0-2, Godfrey 0-1), DPU 4-11 (Hankins 1-1, Decker 1-1, Clarke 1-2, Vogel 1-4, Kus 0-1, Hall 0-2). Total fouls: OC 22, DPU 20. Turnovers: OC 13, DPU 18. Rebounds: OC 24 (Campbell 5), DPU 24 (VandeMerkt 5, Vogel 4). Assists: OC 10 (Fioretti 5), DPU 8 (Hankins 3). Steals: OC 5 (Campbell, Armstrong 2), DPU 3 (Hankins 2, Clarke 1). Blocked Shots: OC 2 (Armstrong 2), DPU 2 (Nettles, Felke).

Next game: Tuesday, DePauw (11-14, 7-11 in NCAC) plays at Wooster College in the opening round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.