DePauw men improve to 4-0 with win at Rose-Hulman

TERRE HAUTE — DePauw trailed Rose-Hulman by 10 points with nine minutes left, but put together a 15-2 run to take a 3-point lead on the way to a 71-67 road victory on Wednesday night.

The Tigers moved to 4-0, while the Engineers slipped to 2-2.

The teams battled through a tight first half before Rose-Hulman closed with a 10-3 stretch to take a 37-29 lead at the intermission.

Josh Hall hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 1:33 of the second half to cut the Rose-Hulman lead to 37-35. The Tigers were still within one at 47-46 before the Engineers scored eight straight to expand the lead to nine. The margin reached a high of 10 points at 59-49 after Michael Lake’s layup with 9:19 left.

DePauw scored the next eight points to draw to within two before Rose-Hulman stopped the run with a bucket. Cole Jenkins’ 3-pointer and layup gave DePauw a 62-61 advantage and Hall added two free throws for a 3-point lead.

Rose-Hulman’s Charlie Aimone’s jumper evened the count at 65-65 and Jenkins nailed a trey for a 3-point lead. Luke Callahan’s bucket trimmed the lead to 68-67 with 20 seconds remaining.

Hall made two free throws with 12 seconds left and then recorded a steal with four seconds remaining to keep the hosts from attempting a potential game-tying shot. Nick Felke sealed the win by hitting one of two charity tosses.

Hall paced DePauw with 19 points, while Jenkins added 14 and Ginther 13. Andrew Kus led with seven rebounds and Felke had five assists and Jenkins three steals.

John Czaneick led Rose-Hulman with 14 points followed by Craig McGee with 13, Aimone with 12 and 10 each from Lake and Callahan. Callahan had a double-double with a team-high 10 rebounds.

DePauw shot 42.9 percent from the field and hit 12 of 28 from beyond the arc, while Rose-Hulman connected on 45.8 percent and mad 5 of 17 from 3-point range.

The Engineers had a 36-35 edge on the boards and committed 14 turnovers to DePauw’s 12.

DePauw opens North Coast Athletic Conference play on Saturday with a 3 p.m. game at Kenyon.