(Peru, Neb.) – On Friday, Nov. 5, the Peru State Men's basketball dropped a game on day one of the Bellevue Classic to Great Plains Athletic Conference member Northwestern College 84-75.
 
The Raiders improved to 3-0 on the campaign while the Bobcats fell to 1-2 on the year.
 
1^st Half
 
Northwestern started the game hitting a three pointer to have the first lead in the game at 3-0 at the 19:04 mark. The 'Cats would tie the with three-ball of their own from Isaac Simpson (Papillion) off the assist from Skyler Wilson (Omaha) at the 18:20 mark.
 
The Bobcats led for the first time at the 16:36 mark after Troy Houghton (Omaha) made a dunk as the score would be 7-6 in favor of Peru State.
 
The Raiders would go on an 8-2 run in just over eight minutes to have a 14-9 lead of the Bobcats. Peru State would cut into the lead after a made jump shot from Houghton as the lead would be 14-11 in favor of Northwestern.
 
The Raiders would see a lead of six points after they made a three at the 13:00 mark of the first half with the score at 19-13. The 'Cats would cut the lead to three points after going on a 6-3 run as Northwestern led 22-19 with just a little of ten minutes to play.
 
The Raiders led by double digits for the first time in the game at 31-21 with 6:00 on the clock. Four straight points from the Bobcats off a Ty Griggs (Omaha) made jump shot and a Houghton made layup to get the deficit back to six.
 
The rest of the half would be close the rest of the way as the Bobcats would face a six-point hole going into the last 20 minutes of the game.
 
2^nd Half
 
The second half started off on the right track for Peru State as Jibril Harris (Chicago, Ill.) made a jump shot and Houghton made layup. This got the 'Cats back within four of the Raiders at 44-40 with 19:20 left in the game.
 
A quick 7-0 run by Northwestern would see their second double-digit lead in the game at 51-40. The Bobcats would respond with a Wilson free throw, a Houghton made layup and a Amitai Afenjar (Los Angeles, Calif.) made three would stop the run as Northwestern led 51-46.
 
The third time the Raiders led by double digits would come at the 12:31 mark as the Bobcats would be down 11 with the score at 61-50. Then at the 11:53 mark the Bobcats would face their largest hole at this point in the game when they were down 14 points with the score at 64-50.
 
At the 8:18 mark the Bobcats would be down seven points after a Henry Tanksley (Lincoln) made layup. The Bobcats would be within four at the 3:48 mark after a made three by Tanksley.
 
The Raiders would be able to hold off the comeback attempt by the Bobcats and get their third win of on the year 84-75.
 
Stats
 
Peru State shot 32-70 from the field for 45.7% which included 7-22 from three for 31.8%. At the charity stripe the Bobcats shot 66.7% on 4-6 free throws.
 
Houghton led the Bobcats in scoring as he added 20 points on a very efficient 10-12 shooting. Harris added 19 points on 50% shooting while making 3-5 threes in the game. Tanksley was in double figures with 13 on 6-7 shooting.
 
Wilson led the team with nine rebounds while six of them were on the offensive end of the floor. Harris would finish the game with seven rebounds.
 
Wilson would have a team-high five assists while Houghton and SJ Allsion Jr. (Dallas, Texas) each added two.
 
Wilson added two steals which led the team while Dedoch Chan (Rochester, Minn.) added one steal.
 
Harris added two blocks while Houghton and Tanksley each added one.