GREENCASTLE, Ind. — DePauw led by as many as 21 in the second half, but had to survive a Southwestern rally that found the Pirates within four with 3:56 remaining. The Tigers claimed the 68-61 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over the visiting Pirates to improve to 13-4 overall and 6-2 in the conference while the Pirates fall to 12-5 overall and 5-3 in the SCAC.

DePauw never trailed and built as much as an 18-point lead on the way to a 43-25 halftime advantage. That lead quickly reached 21 at 49-28 with 15:36 left in the second half.

The lead remained in double digits until the Pirates' Nick Caputo hit a three with 6:07 remaining which trimmed the lead to 60-51. Zach Bergstrom sank one of two free throws with 3:56 left to close the gap to 61-57, but DePauw's Tony James responded with a three to push it back to seven.

DePauw connected on just 4-of-12 from the line in the final two minutes, but Southwestern missed all six field goal tries during that time.

Jonathan Brown led Southwestern with 15 points, while Bergstrom added 12 and Caputo chipped in 10. Brown grabbed a team-high nine rebounds as the Pirates were outrebounded by 11 (38-27). James led the Tigers with 17 points and three assists, while Sean Haseley followed with 13.

After shooting 56.7 percent from the floor in the first half, the Tigers hit just 36.8 percent over the final 20 minutes to finish the contest at 49.0 percent. Southwestern connected on 37.0 percent for the game. DePauw knocked in 12-of-28 threes to Southwestern's 5-of-19. Southwestern hit 16-of-18 from the line, while the Tigers struggled and hit just 8-of-23.

SU remains on the road as they head to Danville, KY to face Centre College in another important SCAC match-up on Saturday at 7:00 CST.