(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State men's basketball team opened the Heart Tournament with a 78-56 win over Graceland in the Quarterfinals. The Bobcats improve to 23-6 overall while the Yellowjackets fall to 18-11 to finish out the year.
Below is a breakdown of how the game went…
It was slow going for both teams early in the game as Graceland held a 6-4 lead over Peru State seven minutes into the first half. Then the Bobcats went on a 14-4 run to take an 18-10 lead with 8:14 to play in the first.
Contributing to the run were baskets by
Christian Tidiane (Council Bluffs, Iowa), a three by
Man Man Baker (Aurora, Colo.),
Troy Houghton (Omaha) and a free throw from
David Wingett Jr. (Winnebago).
Peru State then went on another 12-4 run to make the score 30-14 after
Jibril Harris (Chicago) knocked down a shot from deep. The Yellowjackets then went on a 9-0 run to trim the lead to seven trailing 30-23 with a little above a minute to play in the first half.
Lorenzo Anderson (Lithonia, Ga.) hit a three-point shot to get the lead back out to double digits. The Bobcats led the Yellowjackets 33-25 at the half.
Peru State opened the second half on a 16-3 run to take a whopping 21-point 49-28 lead five minutes into the second half. Contributing the run were buckets by Houghton, Anderson, Baker, Wingett and a couple of free throws from Houghton.
The Bobcats were able to get the lead out to 26-points after
Skyler Wilson (Omaha) hit a shot from downtown as Peru State now led 59-33. Graceland was able to go on a 5-0 run but the Bobcats never let the Yellowjackets get close.
Peru State was leading 64-38 after Harris made a three. Graceland would then get the score within 22-points but the Bobcats kept pouring it on. Peru State would then find itself up 27 points 71-44 after a Harris layup.
The Bobcats defeated the Yellowjackets 78-56.
Peru State shot 28-of-60 from the field shooting 46.7%, 6-of-24 from beyond the arc shooting 25% and 16-of-25 from the charity stripe shooting 64%. Graceland shot 26-of-59 from the field shooting 44.1%, 3-of-16 from deep shooting 18.8% and 1-of-2 from the line shooting 50%.
Peru State outscored Graceland 40-38 in the paint, 25-12 in points off turnovers, 20-6 in second chance points and 15-8 in bench points.
Houghton led the way in points with 21, Harris finished with 13, Anderson had 12 and Baker had 11. Houghton finished with a team-high nine rebounds and Baker finished with a team-high three assists.
Peru State will host No. 3 seed Evangel at home Saturday, February 25, in the Al Wheeler Activity Center at 4:00 p.m. The Valor defeated the Bobcats back on December 17, 97-90 in the only matchup between the two teams this season.
