DePauw hoop teams sweep Denison; women clinch NCAC title

Thursday, February 14, 2019
Maya Howard goes up for two points against Denison on Wednesday night.
DePauw photo

Wednesday was a special evening for DePauw University’s men’s and women’s basketball programs in their penultimate game of the regular season against Denison.

Not only did they complete a sweep of their North Coast Athletic Conference foes in front of their home crowd, the No. 19 women defeating Denison 58-50 and the men winning 86-81, but they did it while raising money for the Kay Yow Breast Cancer Research Fund.

Donning their all-pink uniforms, the women took care of business and in doing so became conference champions for the seventh time in their eight-year NCAC existence.

“I’m proud of this team. They keep battling, grinding it out with some inexperience that has gained experience,” DePauw women’s head coach Kris Huffman said. “It was definitely a tough game tonight. Denison is very talented and pushed us to the wire.”

DePauw didn’t get off to the start it was looking for on the offensive end with just 23 percent of its shots falling in the initial quarter of play, but managed to hang around long enough to cut the deficit from eight to one after one.

The difference? The Tigers went to a 2-3 zone that clogged the lane and eliminated the easy shots around the basket that Denison was feeding off of earlier on.

“We were trying to take them out of their momentum,” said Huffman of the change of defenses. “They had a nice comfort zone offensively and we just wanted to give them another look. Maybe it jumpstarted us.”

It led to a 7-0 run to end the first and carried over into the rest of the first half, with DePauw using another run – 6-0 – to end the second quarter and take a four-point lead into the break.

While the half ended in positive fashion, moments before the Tigers went to the locker room came a scary sight. With 1:42 left in the first half, DePauw leading scorer Maya Howard went after a loose ball in the Denison backcourt, but was upended and crashed to the hardwood.

She had to be looked at by a pair of trainers before being helped off the floor. She returned for second half warmups under her own power, although she was clearly favoring her legs.

The injury may have affected her in some way, with the senior shooting just 6 of 19 from the field, but when it came down to crunch time? Howard was the one with her hands on the ball as both a scorer and facilitator, as she put the game away by scoring or assisting on each of the Tigers’ final 12 points after the Big Red got to within three just over four minutes left.

“She’s been a heck of a player for us. I think, in my opinion, she’s an All-American,” Huffman said of Howard. “She can do so many things. She can take you to the rim, hit the pull up, shoot the three and find the open person. We couldn’t ask more from a player.”

Howard, who went for 21 points, and Sydney Kopp, who had a double-double with her 14 points and 10 rebounds, put themselves in position to enter the history books in their regular season finale Saturday with Howard needing just five points to become the program’s all-time leading scorer and Kopp needing 12 points to enter the 1,000-point club.

Like the women, the men got off to a tough start to begin the game as well.

Trailing 7-0 in the first four-minute segment, the Tigers responded with a 10-0 run that then turned into the two going back-and-forth for quite some time.

That was until the six-minute mark when Nick Felke’s assertiveness took over. The DePauw guard got into the lane at will and converted around the basket, which caused the Big Red defense to put all of their attention on him, opening up others for passes from the sophomore, who racked up four assists to go along with his 19 points – his third double-digit scoring night in the last four games.

“I didn’t feel like our spacing was very good all night, I think we were on top of each other, but he can get in there through cracks,” DePauw men’s coach Bill Fenlon said of Felke. “He sprayed it around a little bit, and we made some shots … Nick is a really good finisher and he changes the pace.”

On the receiving end of his passes were Nick Wissel, Ken Decker and Nolan Ginther (team-high 20 points), who together helped propel DePauw to a 10-0 run to take its first double-figure lead of the evening.

The only thing potentially getting in the way of DePauw leaving Neal Fieldhouse with a sweep of the Big Red? Denison forward Matt Doyle.

The 6-foot-6 senior, who averages 12 points per game, already had more than his season average at the break with 14 points. He, however, did not stop there.

Doyle continued to find the bottom of the net throughout the second half and helped spur a 9-0 run that cut the Denison deficit from 16 to six in less than a two-minute span.

“He’s a bigger guy that can change pace and I just felt like we didn’t do a good job on him and then we weren’t getting any support from the next guy [in the line of defense],” said Fenlon of Doyle’s night against his group. “We just didn’t have an answer for that.”

Doyle finished the night with a season-high 37 points, but it was DePauw that held off the hard-charging Big Red with clutch free throws down the stretch to come away with the victory, guaranteeing the Tigers a winning conference record.

“We made them when they counted and if you’re going to call yourself a good team, that’s how you win games. You’ve got to make some plays when they matter,” said Fenlon.

Both programs end the regular season at home against Wooster Saturday afternoon.

WOMEN’S GAME

DENISON (50) — Hofer 4-6 0-1 8, Lockett 0-4 0-0 0, Province 3-14 0-0 8, Beal 4-9 0-0 8, Hunter 1-6 0-0 2, Bancone 1-3 0-0 3, Morris 3-5 0-0 9, Williams 0-1 0-2 0, MacBlan 2-2 0-0 5, Turner 0-3 0-0 0, Longbrake 3-7 2-4 8. TOTALS 21-60 FG, 2-7 FT, 50 TP.

DEPAUW (58) — Cange 3-5 1-2 7, Keefe 2-8 0-0 4, Kehrt 0-1 0-0 0, Howard 6-19 8-9 21, Kopp 6-13 2-2 14, LeMasters 0-0 0-0 0, Graham 0-0 2-2 2, Shannon 1-4 2-2 4, Kinsey 0-0 2-3 2, Summerville 0-2 0-0 0, Montgomery 2-2 0-0 4, Jurkovic 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 20-54 FG, 17-22 FT, 58 TP.

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DePauw1118131658

3-point shooting — Denison 6-19 (Hofer 0-1, Lockett 0-1, Province 2-8, Morris 3-5, MacBlane 1-1, Turner 0-2, Longbrake 0-1), DePauw 1-11 (Keefe 0-2, Howard 1-3, Kopp 0-4, Shannon 0-1, Summerville 0-1). Rebounds — Denison 31 (Longbrake 7, Province 5), DePauw 43 (Kopp 10, Keefe 8). Assists — Denison 13 (Lockett, Bancone, Turner 3), DePauw 5 (Kopp 4). Steals — Denison 8 (Morris 2), DePauw 4 (Kinsey 2). Blocks — Denison 1 (Hunter), DePauw 3 (Change, Kopp, Montgomery). Turnovers — Denison 13, DePauw 15. Total fouls — Denison 24, DePauw 15. Fouled out — Beal, Hunter. A — 150.

Next — DePauw (20-4, 14-1 NCAC) hosts Wooster and Denison (15-8, 11-4 NCAC) visits Ohio Wesleyan Saturday.

MEN’S GAME

DENISON (81) — Fenton 6-10 3-3 15, Doyle 13-21 8-8 37, Livingston 2-3 2-2 6, Cheng 0-2 0-0 0, Coutler 2-6 0-0 4, Redmond 3-4 1-1 8, Gerics 2-3 0-0 4, Chandonnet 1-5 0-0 2, Fred.Brou 0-0 2-2 2, Bergeron 1-2 0-0 2, Free.Brou 0-4 0-0 0. TOTALS 30-60 FG, 16-16 FT, 81 TP.

DEPAUW (86) — Kus 1-4 0-0 3, Ginther 7-13 6-9 20, Felke 6-11 6-6 19, Steinhart 0-1 1-2 1, Godfrey 2-4 0-0 6, Jenkins 1-2 0-0 2, Lutz 3-3 3-4 9, Drake 1-1 0-0 2, Decker 1-2 2-2 5, Hall 4-6 3-4 12, Shank 2-3 0-0 4, Mahlke 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 29-53 FG, 21-27 FT, 86 TP.

Half — Depauw 44, Denison 32. 3-point shooting — Denison 5-22 (Fenton 0-2, Doyle 3-6, Cheng 0-2, Coulter 1-4, Redmond 1-2, Gerics 0-1, Chandonnet 0-4, Free.Brou 0-1), Depauw 7-16 (Kus 1-2, Felke 1-2, Steinhart 0-1, Godfrey 2-3, Decker 1-2, Hall 1-3, Shank 0-1, Mahlke 1-2). Rebounds — Denison 20 (Fenton 8, Livingston 5), Depauw 33 (Ginther, Felke 6, Kus 5). Assists — Denison 8 (Fenton, Doyle 3), Depauw 16 (Felke 4, Jenkins, Hall 3). Steals — Denison 10 (Doyle 3, Gerics 2), Depauw 7 (Lutz 3, Hall 2). Blocks — Denison 3 (Fenton 2), Depauw 2 (Kus, Mahlke). Turnovers — Denison 16, Depauw 20. Total fouls — Denison 20, Depauw 17. Fouled out — none. A — 150.

Next — DePauw (16-7, 10-8 NCAC) hosts Wooster and Denison (6-17, 3-14 NCAC) visits Ohio Wesleyan Saturday.

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