JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Ryan DePouw poured in a career-high 25 points to lead the Lawrence University men’s basketball team to a 78-76 Midwest Conference victory over Illinois College on Sunday at the Bruner Center.
DePouw hit on 9 of 13 shots from the floor, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. He added a game-high seven rebounds and picked up five assists, two blocks and a steal.
Chris Siebert added 16 points and Davis DeWolfe had 14 points for Lawrence (2-1, 1-0 MWC). Tyler Mazur, seeing his first significant action since football season ended, came off the bench to chip in with 12 points.
Nathan Kohler led Illinois College (1-3, 0-1) with 19 points, and Isaac Grapperhaus and Brandon Barry added 16 points apiece.
Illinois College led by as many as nine points in the first half, but Lawrence finished the first half on a 14-5 run to tie the score at 35-35 at the break. Mazur hit a pair of 3-pointers in that stretch, and DePouw and Siebert also had one apiece.
Lawrence came out strong to start the second half and led by as many as seven points before Illinois College battled back and took a one-point lead midway through the half.
The Vikings got the lead back on the next possession when Siebert drained a 3-pointer, and Illinois College would never lead again.
Lawrence led by as many as six points after that, but the Blueboys trimmed the margin to 74-72 with 1:18 remaining on Barry’s layup. Mazur got a three-point play for Lawrence to push the lead back to 77-72 with 47 seconds left.
The Vikings would miss the front end of the bonus on its next two possessions, and Kohler then hit a pair of free throws to cut the margin to 77-76 with four seconds left. The Blueboys fouled Siebert with three seconds left, and he made the first free throw to finish the scoring.
Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Ripon College.