DePauw men see off pesky Kenyon

Kenyon College came in without a conference win and gave DePauw everything they wanted. Behind 20 points from Elijah Hales and a double-double from Camden Brown, the Tigers used a second half surge to come away with a 78-68 win Wednesday night.

The underdog Owls came in with no fear and competed from the opening tip. They used five first half three pointers to keep them in the game. Two were from Alex Boyd, but more from him later. With 7:45 left in the half, leading scorer Elijah Hales drained a three to tie the game at 21. Grant Gohmann then converted an old fashioned three point play to give the Tigers the edge.

Another three from Hales upped the lead to five moments later. The Owls answered back, but could not retake the Tigers as they could only get as close as one before the break. Nolan Niego scored five straight to keep DePauw out in front at the break 35-31.

Forward Camden Brown got things going early in the second half, scoring the first six points for DePauw. Hales began to heat up again adding seven more in a three minute stretch and the Tigers eased out to a thirteen point lead.

Just when things seemed under control, Kenyon battled back to within seven at 58-51 after six straight points. Alex Boyd could not miss for Kenyon as he tried to put the Owls on his back. Everytime Kenyon looked to make a comeback, DePauw was able to respond. Sam Jacobs’ three ball with just under five minutes left put the Tigers up ten.

Even though the Tigers led for almost 34 minutes of the game, it seemed a lot more stressful. Boyd would add seven more points down the stretch for Kenyon. DePauw was able to close the game out from the charity stripe, hitting three of four to finish off the upstart Owls 78-68.

Elijah Hales finished the game with 20 points to head up the Tiger scoring. Grant Niego finished with 13, Nolan Niego had 12 and Camden Brown added 10 as DePauw had four in double figures. Brown completed the double-double with 13 rebounds. Boyd finished with a game high 22 points for Kenyon.

The Tigers even up their conference record at 7-7, sitting in fifth place. They trail Denison by a game and half for the final conference tournament spot. They will trail to Oberlin and then a huge matchup with Ohio Wesleyan at home on the 15th to close out the regular season.

Team Stats

Individual Scoring

D - Hales 20, G. Niego 13, N. Niego 12, Brown 10, Jacobs 9, Gohmann 7, Jacobson 6, Bach 1

K - Boyd 22, Versa 9, Valentino 9, Matabuena 8, Amazon 7, Lewis 6, Haas 4, Testa 3