Box Score
Valentino Bryant turned in a huge performance for the Sewanee men's basketball team Sunday afternoon, but it wasn't enough, as the Tigers dropped their final SCAC road contest of the year to a hot-shooting DePauw team, 84-70. The host Indiana Tigers shot over 61% in the contest while dropping Sewanee to 8-15 overall and 3-12 in the SCAC. With the win, DePauw moves to 16-7 on the year and 11-3 in the conference. Bryant led Sewanee with 25 points and seven rebounds on 10 of 19 shooting from the floor.
DePauw's Ryan Sever opened up the ballgame with a layup in the paint to put the host Tigers up 2-0- but Sewanee quickly responded with a 3-pointer from Bryant to go ahead one. DePauw answered with a three of their own, this one from Steve Lemasters before Anvil Nelson nailed a short bucket to tie the game at 5-5.
After Nelson's basket, DePauw scored six straight to go ahead 11-5. Bryant knocked down another three to cut the hosts' lead to three but DePauw answered with seven straight to stretch their lead to ten, 18-8. Bryan Beviacqua hit another trey for Sewanee to make it a seven-point game, 18-11, and Nelson hit a layup in the paint to cut the gap to five.
As soon as Sewanee cut the difference to five, DePauw connected on two straight 3-pointers to push their lead to 11, 24-13, with just under nine minutes left in the first half. The two teams traded baskets over the next several minutes as the DePauw lead swung between six and nine points. After Bryant knocked down a layup in the paint to make it 32-25, DePauw, the Indiana Tigers scored back-to-back baskets to take their largest lead of the first half, 37-25.
Sewanee responded with a pair of baskets by Lewis Affronti, a layup in the paint and trey, to cut it to seven as the half wound down. DePauw got a pair of free throws from Sean Haseley to extend the margin back to nine, but Affronti hit another 3-pointer for Sewanee to cut the gap to six, 39-33. Forty seconds later, Bryant found the basket again, this time knocking down a three to further cut into the DePauw lead and make it 39-36.
Sewanee trailed by just three with 1:51 left in the first half, but DePauw grabbed a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer by Ross Simpson, sandwiched around a Valentino Bryant lay up to take a six-point lead. With five seconds left in the half, Ryan Sever scored again for the hosts to give DePauw a 46-38 lead heading into the locker room.
The two Tiger squads produced nearly identical statistics in the first half, with the difference-maker being free throws. Sewanee finished the first half 15 of 27 from the field and 8 of 16 from the 3-point line, with just three turnovers in the frame. DePauw finished the half 16 of 27 from the floor and 9 of 15 from beyond the arc, with two turnovers to their name. The difference was free throws, as the hosts were 5 of 8 in the half from the charity stripe, while Sewanee didn't attempt a single freebie.
The second half had a different outcome for Sewanee, while DePauw managed to keep their hot-shooting ways going throughout the game. The host Tigers came out of the break shooting and used a 13-2 run to extend their lead to 19, 59-40, just five minutes into the half. Sewanee broke things up with a pair of free throws from Trent Williams and a lay up from Brett Bouldin, but DePauw couldn't miss and quickly pushed their lead to 23, 71-48. After DePauw went up 23, the two teams traded baskets over a three-minute span as Sewanee managed to keep the gap from getting much larger. DePauw took their largest lead of the game at the 4:28 mark when Sever hit a pair of free throws to put the black and gold Tigers ahead 79-55.
Sewanee continued to trade scores with DePauw until they found themselves down 23 with 3:22 left in the game. After DePauw's Joe Bergfeld hit a pair of free throws, Bryant tossed in a lay up for Sewanee to cut the difference to 21 and make the score 82-61. Twenty seconds later, Bryant nailed a 3-pointer to lessen the gap to 18, but DePauw responded with a field goal to push their lead to 20, 84-64.
Bryant answered for Sewanee with another lay up in the paint to make it 84-66 and with 38 seconds left he laid down a dunk on a fast break to cut it to 16, 84-68. Bouldin hit a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to make the final score 84-70.
Bryant led Sewanee with 25 points and seven rebounds, while DePauw's Sever led all players with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Lewis Affronti added 13 and Bryan Beviacqua chipped in 10 for Sewanee.
As a team, Sewanee finished the day 25 of 54 from the field (46.3%), after going 15 of 27 in the first half. The Tennessee Tigers hit 11 of 29 3-pointers (37.9%) and 9 of 11 free throws. DePauw ended the day 30 of 49 from the field (61.2%), 14 of 23 from beyond the arc (60.9%), and 10 of 16 from the free throw line.
DePauw held a 33-20 edge in rebounding. Sewanee turned the ball over just four times in the contest, while DePauw gave it up nine times.
Sewanee is back in action on Tuesday when they play host to Free Will Baptist College at 7 p.m.
