(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State men's basketball team had another tough defeat at the hands of No. 9 William Penn falling just short 86-85 on Wednesday night. The Bobcats are now 17-6 overall and 12-5 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play while the Statesmen improve to 21-2 overall and 17-0 in conference play.
Below is a breakdown of how the game went…
The game started with the Statesmen and Bobcats trading threes. Then William Penn went on a 9-0 run to take a 12-3 lead three minutes into the first half. Peru State then went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit down to two trailing 12-10.
Contributing to the run were baskets by
Lorenzo Anderson (Lithonia, Ga.),
Jibril Harris (Chicago) and a three-point shot by Harris. Peru State was then able to cut the lead down to one after a three from
Man Man Baker (Aurora, Colo.) trailing 14-13.
The Statesmen were able to extend its lead back out to four with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. The Bobcats then went on a 7-0 run to take a 21-19 lead after a
Troy Houghton layup
(Omaha).
Peru State and William Penn would trade buckets for the next few possessions before the Statesmen went on another big run. The Statesmen went on a 9-0 run to take a 32-23 lead with around five minutes to play.
The Bobcats then would trade baskets for the next couple of possessions with Statesmen as they were up 36-28 with three minutes remaining in the first half.
Peru State would then be trailing 41-35 with one minute left to go in the half after Anderson knocked down a few free throws. William Penn would lead 43-35 heading into halftime.
The Bobcats went on a 5-0 run to open the second half after a Harris three-pointer and a Baker layup as the Bobcats now only trailed by three down 43-40.
William Penn then went on a 12-3 run to take a 55-43 lead with 15 minutes left in the game. Peru State then came storming back with a 11-3 run as they now only trailed by three 57-54 with around 12 minutes to play.
Contributing to the run were baskets by
Sayvon Traylor (Atlanta),
Christian Tidiane (Council Bluffs, Iowa), a three by Traylor and a dunk by Anderson.
The Statesmen then got their lead back out to nine as they were up 63-54. The Bobcats would keep it close for the next few minutes but then were trailing 69-61 with eight and a half minutes to play.
Peru State then cut the lead back down to four trailing 69-65 with under eight minutes to play. William Penn was able to get its lead back out to six up 73-67.
The Bobcats then got the lead back to a one possession game after Houghton made a layup to make the score 73-71. William Penn got its lead back out to six a few more times as they were now up 79-73 with under five minutes to play.
Peru State cut the lead down to one after a Harris three point shot and a layup by Anderson. William Penn then went on a 6-0 run to make the score 85-78 with two minutes remaining.
The Bobcats did not go quietly as back-to-back dunks by Houghton and Baker had the lead down to two with 12 seconds left. William Penn then went 1-of-2 from the line before Baker sprinted in for a layup with six seconds remaining to make the score 86-85.
Then William Penn turned the ball over after they dribbled it off their knee out of bounds giving the Bobcats one last chance. Unfortunately, the final shot did not fall and William Penn survived.
Peru State shot 33-of-68 from the field shooting 48.5%, 8-of-19 from deep shooting 42.1% and 11-of-19 from the line shooting 57.9%.
William Penn shot 30-of-64 from the field shooting 46.9%, 5-of-25 from three shooting 20% and 21-of-29 from the line shooting 72.4%.
Peru State outscored William Penn 46-40 in the paint, William Penn outscored Peru State 17-14 in points off turnovers and Peru State outscored William Penn 17-15 off the bench.
Harris led the way in points with 20 and also had a double-double with 11 rebounds. Anderson finished with 16 points, Baker and Traylor had 14 each and Houghton finished with 13.
Baker had a team-high nine assists.
Peru State travels to face MidAmerica Nazarene on Saturday, February 4. Tip-Off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
