DePauw men lose NCAC opener to Wittenberg 63-62

DePauw senior Kevin Sullivan attempts a game-winning shot against Wittenberg on Tuesday. The shot rattled out, leaving the Tigers short in their NCAC tournament opening round game. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

In three games against Wittenberg this year, the DePauw men's basketball team has scored 200 points to Wittenbergs' 191. DPU entered the North Coast Athletic Conference as the No. 4 seed; Wittenberg the five. They had identical overall records. The two sets of Tigers are remarkably evenly matched.

But as senior Kevin Sullivan's off-balanced floater rattled off the rim with three seconds left, DePauw's season likely ended with it.

DePauw (16-10) hosted the first round of the NCAC tournament on Tuesday, losing to Wittenberg 63-62.

Sullivan scored 19 points in the contest, but he couldn't will in the one that counted most.

"That was the play," DePauw head coach Bill Fenlon said. "For some reason Kevin didn't drive it into the middle of the floor, he drove it on the baseline. And there's nothing for you on the baseline."

Sullivan had the hot hand, scoring 12 of his 19 points in the second half, and Flynn cooled off after a fast start.

The difference came earlier than just the final few possessions.

Wittenberg center Scott Masin proved to be a nearly impossible matchup for the hosts.

"We were trying to squeeze it out of there all night, but we were late," Fenlon said. "He got going, we made some really bad decisions on him ... We just did a bad job of defending him, individually and collectively.

"We didn't do a good job of squeezing it out of there, and we didn't do a good job of working him off the post early enough. He just kicked our rear end."

Masin scored 15 of Wittenberg's 30 points in the second half, and grabbed six of his eight rebounds.

"He's a load," Fenlon said. "He's good. It's not the first 25-point game he's had this year. I think he's the best low post-up guy in the league."

As Wittenberg (17-10) fell back into its 2-3 zone defense, DPU tried to move the ball around and force Masin to work.

When the ball movement happened, DPU had successful possessions; scoring and getting open shots. Too often, Fenlon said, the hosts were stagnant, falling into their base offense and not deviating enough to make Wittenberg make decisions on the fly.

"We just didn't have the same rhythm that we had the last couple times out," Fenlon said. "The multiple sides of the floor really bothered them (last game), because you've got Masin and you want to get him in as many ball-screen, perimeter guarding situations as you can. You don't want to just let him stand out there."

DPU dropped down as much as 12 points as it searched for the right lineup, working 11 players into the game in the first half. Eventually the team found success with and closed the half on a 22-10 run.

Flynn, the reigning NCAC player of the week, and Sullivan got DePauw going in the first half.

Flynn had 10 of his 13 points and Sullivan had seven points and a pair of assists, knocking down a pair of threes to key the run.

Masin finished the game with 25 points on just 10 shots (7-10 FG, 11-14 FT).

DePauw's season likely ends with the loss, but finishing six games over .500 is a "good, not great," year for Fenlon's team.

"We were six games over .500. That's a pretty good year," he said. "I think our guys have a lot to be proud of. We competed really well all year. We had a lot of big wins. We played some really good basketball, just not consistently enough at key times."

DPU finished the 2011-12 season 13-13, but won at least 19 games in the preceding five years.

NCAC tournament first round at DePauw
Wittenberg 33 30 -- 63
DePauw 35 27 -- 62