SE Nebraska News

The Peru State men's basketball team fell short against No. 13 William Penn 89-82 in overtime Wednesday night. The Bobcats are now 11-5 overall and 6-4 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play while the Statesmen improve to 14-2 overall and 9-1 in conference play.

Below is a breakdown of how the game went…

Peru State started the game out hot up 10-2 with the help of a few technical fouls within the first four minutes of the game. The lead then ballooned out to 14 leading 20-8 after Man Man Baker (Aurora, Colo.) knocked down a pair of free throws.

The Statesmen would cut the lead in half at the first half media timeout as they now trailed 24-17. The Bobcats then went on a 9-3 run to take a 33-20 lead. Contributing to the run were three straight threes by Skyler Wilson (Omaha) and Savyon Traylor (Atlanta)

Peru State got its lead back out to 16 after Baker threw down a ferocious dunk to make the score 36-20. William Penn then ended the half on a 14-5 run as they trailed by seven 41-34 headed into the break.

The Statesmen went on a 23-4 run to take 57-45 lead with around ten minutes to play in the second half. Coincidentally during the run William Penn would have its first lead of the game. 

The Bobcats then went on a 17-1 run to retake the lead 62-58, contributing to the run were threes by Baker and SJ Allison Jr. (Dallas), layups by Lorenzo Anderson (Lithonia, Ga.), Baker and Troy Houghton (Omaha) and free throws from Baker and Houghton.

William Penn and Peru State then traded buckets for the next few minutes. The Bobcats took a five-point 68-63 lead with around three minutes to play after free throws from Baker and a layup from Anderson.

The Statesmen would then tie the game at 68 all with under three minutes to play. Anderson then hit a huge three to give the Bobcats a three-point lead.

William Penn would retake the lead with a minute to play 72-71, they then would get the score up to three twice more after Peru State cut it to one after a Houghton layup. William Penn led 76-73 with seven seconds to play.

Baker then banked in a three on the final possession to take the game into overtime. Baker continued his hot hand in overtime as he hit a three to open the extra fame as the Bobcats took a 79-76 lead.

William Penn then went on a 7-0 run to take an 83-79 lead with a little over two minutes to play. Traylor then hit a huge three as Peru State was now only down one 83-82 with above a minute to play.

Unfortunately, that would be the last basket for the Bobcats as the Statesmen finished the game with an 89-82 victory.

Peru State shot 26-of-73 from the field shooting 35.6%, 12-of-32 from beyond the arc shooting 37.5% and 18-of-26 shooting 69.2% from the free throw line.

William Penn shot 26-of-76 from the floor shooting 34.2%, 5-of-25 from three shooting 20% and 32-of-43 from the charity stripe shooting 43.4%.

William Penn outscored Peru State 32-28 in the paint, Peru State outscored William Penn in 17-16 in points off turnovers and William Penn had 47 bench points comparatively to Peru State's 10.

Baker finished with a double-double 25 points and 16 rebounds which was the team lead in both categories. He also led the way in assists with six. Anderson finished with 20 points, Traylor finished 13 and Houghton had nine.

Peru State heads up north to face Clarke in Dubuque, Iowa this Saturday. Tip-Off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. 

Original source can be found here.