(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State men's basketball team fell to No. 20 Evangel 97-90 Saturday evening in Springfield, Mo. The Bobcats are now 9-4 overall and 4-3 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play while the Valor improve to 11-2 overall and 6-1 in conference play.
Below is a breakdown of how the game went…
Evangel got out to an 11-6 lead early in the first half but then after a Peru State timeout the Bobcats went on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 11. Contributing to the run was a bucket by
Jibril Harris (Chicago) and and-one bucket by
Troy Houghton (Omaha).
Evangel hit a three to retake the lead 14-11 with 14:50 left to play in the half. Neither team could score for the next few possessions but then
Man Man Baker (Aurora, Colo.) flew in for a highlight reel putback dunk as the Bobcats were up one 15-14.
The Valor and the Bobcats would then trade buckets for the next few possessions. Harris made a layup to tie the game at 21 all with around ten minutes left in the half. Evangel then went on a 11-2 run to take a 32-23 lead with just above eight minutes to go in the first half.
The Bobcats then went on a quick 6-2 run to make the score 34-29 after Houghton made a layup. Evangel then hit back-to-back threes on the next two possessions to take a 40-29 lead. The Valor had a ten-point lead with just under three minutes to go in the first half.
Lorenzo Anderson (Lithonia. Ga.) hit two free throws to make it a single digit game down 45-37 with 2:42 to play in the half. Evangel stretched its lead back out to 49-37 with around a 1:30 to play.
Peru State went on an 8-3 run to end the first half mostly on the back of Savyon Traylor
(Atlanta) as he had five points in the run.
Evangel had 52-45 lead at the halftime break.
The Valor came out with vengeance to start the second half as they opened with a 9-3 run to take 61-48 lead with around 16 minutes to go in the second half. Baker stopped the bleeding momentarily with a bucket as Peru State got back within 11.
The Evangel lead got up to 16 points as they led 66-50 with around 15 minutes to play in the game. Traylor hit two big threes to make the score 68-56. Evangel tried to put Peru State away multiple times but the Bobcats kept hanging around.
Peru State cut the lead down to 11 again after
Skyler Wilson (Omaha) hit a three as the Bobcats trailed 72-61. Harris then hit a three as the Bobcats cut the lead to single digits down nine 73-64 with only ten minutes to play.
A little later in the half Peru State would cut the lead down to seven after Baker knocked down a couple a free throws. Evangel then got its lead back up to ten leading 82-72 with around six minutes to play.
Then a 7-0 run by the Bobcats had the score 82-79 after a three by Traylor and intentional foul giving the Bobcats a four-point swing with free throws and a bucket from Anderson.
Evangel got it back out to a six-point lead with an and-one play on the next possession. Peru State then went on a quick 6-2 run as they trailed by two 87-85 after Traylor made a layup with 1:43 to play.
Houghton got the game back within three after a layup from Evangel to make the score 89-86. The Bobcats got it down to four once more with and-one bucket from Traylor but unfortunately fell 97-90.
Peru State shot 33-of-68 from the field shooting 48.5%, 7-of-26 from three shooting 26.9% and 17-of-22 from the line shooting 77.3%.
Evangel shot 37-of-61 from the field shooting 60.7%, 11-of-22 from beyond the arc shooting 50% and 12-of-18 from the line shooting 66.7%.
Points in the paint were relatively even as Peru State edged out Evangel 44-42, Peru State had 18 points off turnovers compared to Evangel's seven and Peru State outscored Evangel 36-30 off the bench.
Traylor led the way in scoring with 30 points off the bench, Anderson had 16, Harris had 15 and Houghton had 14. Baker had a double-double with 10 rebounds and 10 assists leading the team in both categories.
Peru State is off until next semester when they hit the road to Lamoni, Iowa to take on Graceland on Wednesday, January 4. Tip-Off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
