men's basketball
Tigers Knock Off Carnegie Mellon 61-49; Hooker, Bowers named to All-Little Giant - Tiger Classic Team
GREENCASTLE, IND. Like a veteran pitcher without his best stuff, DePauw struggled through the early innings, but had enough experience and determination to gut out a 61-49 win.
After shooting only 28 percent from the field in the first half and trailing 24-20, DePauw put the game in senior all-American candidate Ryan Hooker's hands. He came through with 16 points, 11 rebounds (six offensive), two assists and uncounted bumps, bruises and floor burns.
Hooker had help from fellow seniors Matt Bowers, who had another solid game on both ends of the floor (10 points and seven rebounds), and Craig Stewart (nine points and seven rebounds).
Sophomore Jess McKinney came off the bench and provided spark in both halves. He finished with 13 points.
But in the end, it was Hooker who walked off the mound with the win. Even though hampered by foul trouble in the second half (he got his third with 9:26 left and finished with four), "Hook" continually hit the big shot, grabbed the big rebound, made the sweet pass and generally refused to give in to the bigger and stronger visitors from Pittsburgh.
Leading all scorers was Carnegie Mellon center Gary Trendel with 18. Carnegie Mellon fell to a 3-6 record. DePauw improved to 5-5 with their fifth straight win.
In the first game, Wabash pulled out a squeaker 69-67 over Kalamazoo. Chad Tabor scored nine straight late in the contest including the eventual game-winning jumper with six seconds left. Josh Kendrick batted away a pass on the Kalamazoo inbound play and Beau Barrett recovered before being fouled. Barrett's two free throws with four seconds left sealed the win for the Little Giants who won their seventh straight and eighth in nine tries this year.
In addition to Hooker and Bowers, the other members of the Little Giant-Tiger Classic All-Tournament Team were Chad Tabor from Wabash, Gary Trendel from Carnegie Mellon and Brian Blattert from Kalamazoo.
DePauw resumes its schedule on Jan. 4 against North Park at home at 7:30 p.m. Conference play begins against Rose-Hulman at home on Jan. 8.
Go to DePauw Men's Basketball Page