(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State men's basketball team fell to No. 1 seed William Penn for the third time this season. This time in the Heart Conference Championship Game on Tuesday, February 28, in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
The Bobcats are now 24-7 overall while the Statesmen improve to 28-3 on the year.
Below is a breakdown of how the game went…
Peru State started out hot as they were up 9-4 in the initial stages of the first half forcing William Penn to call a timeout. Contributing to the early lead were baskets by
David Wingett Jr. (Winnebago),
Jibril Harris (Chicago), a three by Harris and a bucket from
Man Man Baker (Aurora, Colo.).
The Statesmen then went on a 12-1 run to take a 16-10 lead with around 12 minutes to play in the first. Peru State then was able to tie the game at 18 apiece after Wingett laid in a bucket.
Peru State then went on a mini 9-4 run to take a 27-22 lead with eight minutes to play in the first half. Contributing to the run were buckets by Harris, a three from
Lorenzo Anderson (Lithonia, Ga.) and a dunk from
Troy Houghton (Omaha).
Later in the half the Bobcats would extend their lead out to six up 32-26 with a layup from Harris with five minutes to go until halftime. William Penn's offense then got going as they tied the game at 34 with only a few minutes remaining in the first.
The Statesmen took a 41-36 lead going into halftime. William Penn went on a 15-4 run to close out the first half.
In the beginning of the second half Houghton got the score down to one possession as the Bobcats trailed by three. William Penn then went on a 9-0 run to make the score 50-38 with 18 minutes to play in the game.
The game took a turning point from there as the Bobcats were called for two technical fouls so the Statesmen were able to shoot four consecutive free throws and they knocked down all four.
The 9-0 run had turned into a 13-0 run and the Statesmen now had a commanding 16-point 54-38 lead. A little later in the half the Bobcats were able to get the lead down to ten points. Wingett Jr. had made a three-point shot to make the score 61-51 with under 13 minutes to play.
William Penn then went on a 7-2 run to take the lead back out to 15 with ten minutes to play. A few minutes later the Bobcats were able to get the score back within 13 after Anderson made a jump shot as Peru State trailed 73-60.
William Penn then extended its lead back to 18 points with under seven minutes remaining in the game. Late in the half the Bobcats were able to get it down to 12 points trailing 84-72. Peru State was never able to get it within ten points again as they fell to the Statesmen 95-82.
Peru State shot 30-of-72 from the floor shooting 41.7%, 11-of-30 from beyond the arc shooting 36.7% and 11-of-17 from the line shooting 64.7%. William Penn shot 31-of-65 from the field shooting 47.7%, 7-of-19 from deep shooting 36.8% and 26-of-28 from the charity stripe shooting 92.9%.
William Penn outscored Peru State 40-30 in the paint, 31-16 in bench points and Peru State outscored William Penn 21-4 in points off turnovers.
One of the big discrepancies in the box score the Statesmen outrebounded the Bobcats 51-25.
Wingett Jr. was the Bobcats leading scorer with 22 points, Harris finished with 16, Baker had 12 and
Sayvon Traylor (Atlanta) finished with 11.
Houghton led the team in rebounds with six and Baker finished with a team-high five assists.
Peru State has automatically qualified for the NAIA National Tournament as the Bobcats finished second in the regular season to secure the Heart's second auto-bid to secure the Heart's second auto-bid with William Penn winning both the regular season and tournament title. The NAIA selection show is set for Thursday, March 2, at 7:00 p.m.
