DePauw and Ohio Northern Win Rokicki Opening Night Games

 BOX SCORES: DePauw 92, Earlham 57 | Ohio Northern 70, Defiance 67

TOURNAMENT PAGE

November 29, 2008, Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw and Ohio Northern each advanced to Sunday's Mike Rokicki Community Versus Cancer Challenge championship game after wins in Saturday's opening round contests.

DePauw opened with a 92-57 win over Earlham, while Ohio Northern held on for a 70-67 victory over Defiance. The Tigers and Polar Bears meet in Sunday's 4 p.m. title game, while Earlham and Defiance battle at 2 p.m. for third place.

The Tigers scored the game's first five points and never loosed back as they jumped out to a 32-6 lead in the opening 14 minutes of the half and led at the break, 46-23. The Quakers closed to within 19 with just over eight minutes remaining before DePauw closed the contest with a 24-8 run.

Mike Moore paced the Tigers with 26, while Joe Bergfeld dropped in a career-high 14 and Tom Callen and Steve Lemasters each followed with 11. Shane Heidt paced Earlham with 25, while Tristian Gregory added 21. 

Callen led DePauw with six rebounds, while Tarrell Berry paced Earlham with nine. The Tigers held a 35-20 advantage on the boards and hit 59.6 percent from the floor including 9-of-18 from three-point range. Earlham hit 40 percent for the game.

In the evening's second game, Ohio Northern held Defiance scoreless over the last 3:30 after after the Yellow Jackets had battled back to take a 65-64 lead with just under five minutes left.

Defiance led by as many as nine in the first half at 23-14, but a 25-5 Ohio Northern stretch turned that around to a 39-28 Polar Bears lead. 

The Polar Bears led by as many as 12 in the second half and held a 63-53 edge with 8:33 left before the Yellow Jackets rallied with a 12-1 run paced by Anthony Brown's eight points.

Sam Bastian led four Ohio Northern double-figure scorers with 16 points followed by Matt Phillips and Ezra Bradshaw with 11 each and Kurtis Brown with 10.

Anthony Brown dropped in 21 for Defiance followed by Kyle Tietje's 17 and Anthony Pettaway's double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. Nick Sales added 10 rebounds as the Yellow Jackets held a 35-27 edge on the boards.