Trinity Men Edged by DePauw in SCAC Tournament Semifinals

Jackson, Miss. - The DePauw Tigers edged the Trinity Tigers men 58-56 Saturday in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament semifinals at The Hangar Dome at Millsaps College.
 
DePauw's Ryan Sever sank two free throws with 29 seconds remaining in the game, sending the Indiana Tigers to the SCAC title match-up Sunday against defending champion Centre.
 
Trinity (16-11), which had a seven-game winning streak snapped, beat DePauw 59-40 on Jan. 21 in San Antonio.
 
Tiger junior guard Ryan Beall (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos) paced Trinity with a double-double, scoring 14 points, and pulling in a game-high 11 rebounds. Beall shot 5-9 from the floor and blocked two shots.
 
First-year forward Robert Kitzinger (Carmel, Ind/Carmel) added 12 points, hitting 5-10 from the floor. Senior forward Luke Caldarera (Houston/Katy Taylor) scored 10 points, while grabbing five rebounds. First-year forward Jonathan Wilt (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton) also had 10 points.
 
DePauw held a 33-24 advantage at halftime. Trinity closed to three points (36-39) on a jumper by Beall with 12:36 left in the game. DePauw widened the lead to 44-36 (9:54), until Trinity whittled it down to three (51-54) on a layup by Beall with three minutes to go. Wilt tipped in the ball at 1:06, and the game was tied at 56-56. Sever was fouled, made his shots, and Trinity missed a jumper with four seconds remaining as the game ended.
 
Steve Lemasters of DePauw led the game with 15 points, and Sever contributed 14 for DePauw, which improved to 19-8.
 
Trinity shot 42.9 percent (24-56) and DePauw hit 44.9 percent (22-49) from the field. The two teams were even in rebounds, with 32 each.