Tigers win fourth straight; avenge earlier loss in 74-50 victory

GREENCASTLE, IND. - The DePauw men's basketball team clearly did one thing on Friday night. Their 74-50 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win over visiting Oglethorpe avenged an earlier one-point loss to the Stormy Petrels and moved them a step closer to first place in the SCAC standings.

The Tigers' fourth straight win lifted their overall record to 14-5 and their SCAC mark to 8-4. Oglethorpe fell to 7-11 and 3-9.

The win, coupled with Rose-Hulman's 83-67 victory over Millsaps, drew the Tigers to within two games of the league-leading Majors heading into Sunday's must-win contest. Tip off for that game is at noon.

Both teams struggled offensively in the early going as DePauw was the first to double digits, but not until nine minutes had been played.

Oglethorpe's Stan Goldberg hit back-to-back three-pointers to bring the Stomy Petrels within five at 20-15 with 5:26 left, but the Tigers scored the last 13 points of the half to take a 33-15 lead at the break. The Tigers hit 54 percent of their shots in the first half and held Oglethorpe to only 23 percent.

An 8-3 surge at the start of the second half put DePauw ahead 41-18 and they were never threatened from there.

"I thought we played well defensively, but seemed a step slow on the offensive end and never really got into a rhythm," head coach Bill Fenlon said. "We got the two things we wanted to happen tonight, though,"

The Tigers limited Oglethorpe to just 32 percent shooting from the floor and outrebounded them 45-29.

Mike Howland led three Tiger double-figure scorers with 17 followed by Jeremy Bettis with 14 and Joe Nixon with 12. Nixon just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Jon Owens recorded five steals and assisted on four baskets in the victory.

Stan Goldberg came off the bench to score 13 for the Stormy Petrels, while Christian Blonshine added 10.