Petrels Win Thriller Over Tigers

The Oglethorpe University men's basketball team beat DePauw University on Sunday afternoon on Pinholster Court, 77-70. In a classic that was tied at 70 with 55 seconds left and featured 14 ties and 9 lead changes, the Petrels scored the final 7 points of the contest before a jubilant crowd in the Dorough Field House.

The Petrels scratched out an early 15-8 lead over the Tigers in the game's first five minutes but the Tigers responded with a 21-6 run over the next 9 minutes to take a 29-21 lead. Oglethorpe knocked the lead down to 3 on a basket and free throw by Erik Strong with 3:36 in the half but the Tigers countered with 5 straight to re-open an 8 point cushion. Oglethorpe grasped momentum heading into the locker room, though, when Alex Richey drained a deep three-ball from the corner at the horn to bring the halftime score to 40-36.

After only two lead changes and three ties in the first half, the second half was a classic battle that saw the lead change hands 7 times and the two teams knotted in ties on 11 occasions. Oglethorpe scored the first 4 points of the second stanza to create the first tie of the final 20 minutes and, from there, the two teams went back-and-forth a la a heavyweight boxing match, with each trading blows.

The Petrels took the largest lead either team held in the second half and that was only by 3 points after a made Joe Kennedy jumper with 4:32 remaining. The Tigers battled back to tie the game two more times: at 68 all and 70 all, before the Petrels seized the game by the throat. In the biggest possession of the game Oglethorpe was relentless on the boards as Erik Strong followed a Richey miss with a narrow miss of his own before Todd Ward swooped in with a tip back that fell through the hoop as he was fouled.

Ward converted the three-point play to give Oglethorpe a 3 point lead with 32 ticks left and then made the defensive play of the game on the ensuing possession to win the game for Oglethorpe and send the home fans into a frenzy. The Petrels forced the Tigers Steve Lemasters into a trap on the sidelines and when he tried a jump pass out of it, Ward stepped in front for the steal and raced down the court. He was fouled hard by DePauw's Tony James, but not hard enough. Incredibly, Ward managed to scoop his shot up and in and, after sinking his free throw, gave Oglethorpe an insurmountable 6 point lead with only 13 seconds left.

The Petrels shot a lights-out 59% from the field in the second half to spring the come from behind win. For the game, Oglethorpe was 49% (26-53) from the field.

Ward led the Petrels yet again with 21 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Richey added 13 points and Strong scored 11 in his first career start to round out the Petrels in double-figures.

Oglethorpe is now 13-10 on the season and 8-7 in SCAC play. They step oiut of conference to face Piedmont in Demorest, Ga. on Wednesday night before finishing the regular season against Sewanee at 8:00 p.m. on Pinholster Court this Saturday night.