(Peru, Neb.) – The Bobcat men's basketball team scored the first points of the game and never trailed in route to a 104-81 win over Avila University in Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday.
 
With the win, Peru State improves to 10-7 overall and 7-3 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference which keeps them in a tie for second with Graceland University. The Eagles fell to 11-6 and 5-5 in conference play.
 
First Half Action
 
The game started with four consecutive turnovers – two by each team. With 19:07 on the clock Riak Bol (Omaha) scored the first bucket of the game for Peru State on an assist from Darwin Ellis (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Ellis later followed with a trey to make it 5-0 with 17:34 remaining in the first 20 minutes. After the Eagles got on the board, Kris Frazier (Cleveland) got an assist from Bol and scored a bucket to make it 7-2. Ellis dished out another assist, this time to Quantice Hunter (Chicago) who drained a trey and the 'Cats led 10-2 with 14:45 left in the half.

 
With just under ten minutes left in the half, Peru State jumped to a double-digit lead when Rich Shepherd (Greenville, N.C.) hit a three-pointer coming on another assist from Ellis. The score at that point was 21-9 Bobcats.
 
At the 7:26 mark in the first half, the 'Cats had increased their lead to more than 20 after Corday Sims (Chicago) hit a bucket with the assist being credited to Shepherd. Peru State led 32-11 at that juncture in the half. Frazier would hit a bucket and then Sims made two free throws to increase the lead to 36-11. This was followed by another bucket by Frazier and with 6:59 left in the first 20 minutes, the Bobcats led 38-11.
 
Jamar Cannon (Inglewood, Calif.) would hit a trey at the 1:19 point in the half and Peru State led by 31 at 54-23. Cannon would add two more on the next possession on an assist from Ellis to extend the lead to 56-23. Avila would hit a three-pointer with eight seconds left and Peru State would lead at halftime 56-26.
 
The Bobcats made 20 of 32 field goals in the first half for an outstanding 62.5% shooting percentage.
 
Second Half Action
 

Avila hit a pair of free throws to start the second half and Hunter countered that with a trey to make it 59-28 with 19:31 left in the contest. Hunter would then dish the ball to Sims on Peru State's next possession who scored to give the Bobcats their largest lead of the game at 61-28.
 
The Eagles would get another pair of free throws and again Hunter would dish off to Sims who drained a trey to once again give Peru State its largest lead at 64-30 with 18:56 on the clock. Peru State's last 30-point lead came at 75-45 with 13:39 remaining when Josh Varney (Cape Coral, Fla.) scored on an assist from Shepherd.
 
Avila would not go away and cut the lead to 20 at 81-61 at the 8:40 mark. Cannon would increase the lead back to 23 after hitting a trey on the next possession on an assist from Hunter. Peru State would work to increase their lead back to 28 at 93-65 with 6:49 remaining when Cannon hit a bucket, this time on an assist from Bol.
 
The Eagles did get the lead down under 20 when they scored with 3:05 left to make it 97-79. Hunter stopped that mini-run with a trey on an assist from Ellis on the next play.
 
With 44 seconds left, Sims hit a field goal for the final score of the game to make it 104-81. That bucket put Sims over the 1,000-point plateau in just over one and one-half years in a Bobcat uniform.

AVILA GAME BOOK
 
Team Statistics
 
Peru State had a good-shooting night as they made 36 of 67 field goals for 53.7% including making 14 of 27 from long range for 51.9%. At the free throw line, the 'Cats made 18 of 21 for 85.7%. Avila connected on 25 of 69 field goal tries for 36.2% and hit a similar percentage of treys as they made 8 of 22 for 36.4%. At the charity stripe, the Eagles went 23 of 27 for 85.2%.
 
The Bobcats had a slight rebounding edge as they grabbed 35 while Avila had 33. Peru State dished out 26 assists with the Eagles finishing with 17. The 'Cats did commit a few more turnovers – 18 while Avila had 14. Peru State blocked six shots with the Eagles swatting away three Bobcat shots. The Bobcats had seven steals compared to four for Avila.

 
Individual Statistics
 
Sims finished with a game-high 28 points on 8 of 15 shooting which included making 4 of 6 three-pointers and 8 of 9 free throws. Four other Bobcats finished in double figures – Cannon – 17, Hunter – 16, Varney – 15, and Frazier – 13.
 
Varney led Peru State with nine rebounds while Sims added eight. Bol and Frazier each grabbed five rebounds. Ellis dished out a game-high eight assists with Shepherd and Hunter contributing six and five respectively.
 
Bol blocked a game-high four shots with Frazier and Hunter each credited for one. Cannon had a game-high three steals with Frazier, Sims, Hunter, and Shepherd each grabbing one.
 
Upcoming Games
 

Peru State will finish the first half of conference play on Wednesday night when Grand View University visits the Al Wheeler Activity Center. The Vikings are 9-8 overall and 3-7 in the Heart and are coming off a win over Baker University, the team who topped the Bobcats last Thursday night in the AWAC. Game time for the game with the Vikings is 7:30 p.m.
 
On Saturday, Jan. 23, the 'Cats will travel to Fayette, Mo., to face Central Methodist University at 4:30 p.m. The Eagles are on a four-game losing streak and are 10-8 overall and 4-6 in the Heart. Back in November, the Bobcats topped Central Methodist at home 87-78 in the second conference game of the season.