The Culver-Stockton College (CSC) Wildcat men's basketball continued their winning ways as they topped the Peru State College Bobcats on Saturday in Peru. CSC defeated Peru State 85-77.
Culver-Stockton won their third straight in the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) play to improve to 9-2 for the year and 3-0 in HAAC play. The Bobcats fell to 5-7 overall and remain winless in conference play at 0-3.
hit a bucket after grabbing an offensive rebound. Schaben's bucket was followed by one free throw by
and then another bucket by Schaben on an assist from Williams. PSC led 7-2 with 18:49 left in the first half.
Culver-Stockton hit a couple of buckets to get within one a 7-6 at the 17:34 mark. On the next possession, Oppitz hit a bucket to make it 9-6 on an assist from Bohy. PSC would build their lead to 14-9 before the Wildcats would go on a 6-0 run to take the lead at 15-14 with 14:20 remaining.
It was still close with 7:43 remaining as CSC maintained a one-point lead at 24-23 after
Eric Donald (Omaha) had hit a three-pointer.
The Wildcats would close the half with a 13-6 run to go into halftime with a 37-29 advantage.
Culver-Stockton would open the second half with two free throws to go up by ten. The Bobcats would respond with five points by Williams and then a bucket by Oppitz cutting it to 39-36 with 17:39 left in the game.
The 'Cats from CSC then would go on a 22 to six run, jumping to a 19-point lead at 61-42 at the 11:43 mark.
Taylor Christensen (Phoenix, Ariz.) would stop the run with a field goal, before the Wildcats would build their lead to 23 at 70-47 with 9:16 remaining.
PSC would make a run at the end of the game, but it would not be enough, as Culver-Stockton took the win.
Game Statistics
Both teams shot the ball fairly well with CSC making 30 of 66 field goals for 45.5% that included going nine of 20 for 45% from behind the arc. At the free throw line, the Wildcats were 16 of 22 of 72.7%.
PSC hit 41.3% of their field goals, making 31 of 75 for 41.3%. From three-point range, the 'Cats did struggle a little, making three of 11 for 27.3%. At the charity stripe, PSC was 12 of 21 for 57.1%.
The Wildcats grabbed seven more rebounds than PSC, pulling down 44 compared to PSC's 37. Both teams did a decent job of taking care of the ball as PSC only committed ten turnovers while CSC had 14 miscues. Each team had 11 assists.
Individual Statistics
Williams finished with a game-high 24 points, five rebounds, two steals, and two assists. Also, in double figures for Peru State was Oppitz who finished with a career-high 20 points. Oppitz gained a double double by also snaring a game-high 14 rebounds and blocked two shots.
CULVER-STOCKTON BOX SCORE
KNCY Player of the Game Comments
For his career-high 20 points and game-high 14 rebounds, Oppitz was named the KNCY Player of the Game. In talking about the game, Oppitz said, “We came out on fire and got a 7-2 run, but they came back and just built too much of a lead in the second half. We played better than we did against Park, but Culver-Stockton tonight made better adjustments than we did in the game.”
Oppitz continued, “We need a win, so hopefully we will get a win over Haskell when we come back after break.” In addition, Oppitz added, “They (CSC) went helter skelter with their offense and our plan is to play more structured, so we struggled with that part. But, we were able to slow them down in the second half.”
In conclusion, Oppitz noted, “We have played three of the top teams in the conference. So, the lesson we learned is we can play with the best teams in the conference, but we need to play an entire game to get a win. It will come.”
Coach Katen Comments
Bobcat head coach Troy Katen was disappointed with the loss, but saw some good things in the loss. Katen started the post-game conference by saying, “We did not play a good first half, but we played a little better in the second half, but still had some inconsistencies. However, give credit to Culver-Stockton as they had guys who could shoot from anywhere on the court.”
Katen continued, “In the first half, we missed 13 lay-ups, and when you do that, you put a lot of pressure on a team to make other shots. A huge factor was CSC outscored our bench 31-18 and they beat us 18-6 on fast break points. Those are back crushers as it shows you how much they are hustling. We got our share of fast breaks, but those were off turnovers.”
In addition, Katen added, “Rich had an unbelievable game, but we had to go to four guards at times to keep up with their quickness. Their point guard is a talent and he is like an energizer bunny. We wanted to dictate the tempo of the game, but we did not do so tonight. Coach Schrader has his team playing controlled chaos type of offense and they are doing well with it this year. I know this is not his style, but it works for the personnel he has this year.”
Concluding, Katen said, “We have played three of the top teams in the conference already, but we have a favorable schedule until the first part of February. So, we need to come back rested and ready to go on the 28
th and get ready for the rest of year. If we can play consistent, we will make some noise in the next part of the season. The conference is exchanging blows right now and will continue to do so. We will have a little break time for rest and relaxation to get things righted before we start again.”
Upcoming Games
The Bobcat men will take some time off and focus on finals next week. The men's basketball program will host youth tournaments on Dec. 15 and 16 and then host a high school tournament on Dec. 17 and 18 before taking off ten days before coming back to practice on Dec. 28.
Then, on New Year's Eve, Peru State will host the Haskell Indian Nations University Fighting Indians with the game starting at approximately 2 p.m. following the women's game between the same two teams. This will be a non-conference match-up for PSC. It should be noted that the original schedules had this as a 3 p.m. start, but it has recently been changed.
Once 2013 starts, PSC will have five games within 12 days, starting on Thursday, Jan. 3, when PSC travels to Baldwin City, Kan., to take on Baker University.
