Alex Stewart's three-pointer with 13:12 left in the first half lifted DePauw to a 17-16 lead before the Colonels rallied with 11 straight over a 2:30 stretch. John Ortega's three-pointer with 10:25 left in the half gave the Colonels a 26-16 advantage. The Tigers scored seven consecutive of their own with Stewart's three with 4:44 remaining closing the gap to 26-23. The teams went to the break with Centre leading, 30-27.
DePauw gained the lead early in the second half and extended it to as many as five points on four occasions with the last coming at 50-45 on Matt McDonald's layup with 7:31 remaining. Kyle Roby and James Booker each hit buckets to pull the Colonels to within one at 50-49, but Dre Smith scored for the Tigers to push the advantage back to three.
Booker knocked down a three with 4:20 left to tie the score at 52-52 before Rob King hit two free throws and Booker nailed another trey with 3:11 left to give the Colonels a 57-52 lead. DePauw's Todd Capes was able to close the gap to three with a basket, but Ortega hit a three and King added to free throws at the 1:25 mark to make it 62-54.
John Gergely and Alex Stewart led the Tigers with 13 apiece with Gergely's establishing a career high. McDonald grabbed a career-high eight rebounds as did Stewart. each hauled down eight rebounds. Rob King paced the Colonels with 12 points, while Booker and Reggie Magnusson each added 11. King, Magnusson and Coy Zerhusen each hauled down eight rebounds for the Colonels.
Centre held a 44-32 advantage on the boards including 16 on the offensive glass and held a 16-5 edge in second-chance points. The Tigers played the game without Joey Hanger and Derek Lawrence who missed due to injury.
Newspaper Box Score DePauw University vs Centre College 02-20-04 8:00 P.M. at Danville, Ky. At Danville, Ky. CENTRE COLLEGE 65, DEPAUW UNIVERSITY 61 DEPAUW UNIVERSITY (15-9, (8-5)) Alex Stewart 4-9 2-3 13; John Gergely 5-10 2-2 13; Jon Owens 4-9 0-0 8; Reid Sakel 3-9 0-0 8; Todd Capes 2-3 2-3 6; Dre Smith 2-5 1-2 5; Matt McDonald 2-6 0-0 4; Robert Davis 1-4 0-0 2; Wes Thornhill 1-2 0-0 2; Austin Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 7-10 61. CENTRE COLLEGE (17-7, (9-4)) Rob King 1-4 10-12 12; Reggie Magnusson 5-10 1-1 11; James Booker 4-10 0-0 11; Coy Zerhusen 4-7 1-3 9; John Ortega 2-3 0-0 6; Jason Atwell 2-13 0-0 6; Matt Jacobson 2-7 0-0 5; Kyle Roby 2-7 0-2 5; John Patterson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 12-18 65. DePauw University............. 27 34 - 61 Centre College................ 30 35 - 65 3-point goals-DePauw University 6-16 (Alex Stewart 3-7; Reid Sakel 2-6; John Gergely 1-2; Jon Owens 0-1), Centre College 9-30 (James Booker 3-6; Jason Atwell 2-10; John Ortega 2-2; Matt Jacobson 1-5; Kyle Roby 1-5; Reggie Magnusson 0-1; Rob King 0-1). Fouled out--DePauw University-None, Centre College-None. Rebounds-DePauw University 32 (Alex Stewart 8; Matt McDonald 8), Centre College 44 (Rob King 8; Coy Zerhusen 8; Reggie Magnusson 8). Assists-DePauw University 5 (Todd Capes 3), Centre College 10 (Rob King 4). Total fouls-DePauw University 16, Centre College 13. A-350 The Colonels will wrap up season play on Sun. Feb. 22 against the visiting Rose-Hulman Engineers.