William Penn Falls in Top-25 Matchup
William Penn University Athletics
Peru, Neb.–It will now come down to which program has the best eight-game stretch as the Statesmen men’s basketball team was knocked off by #21 Peru State 91-76 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.
#6 WPU (18-4, 11-3 Heart) greatly improved in the second period, but could not overcome a 16-point halftime deficit as the Bobcats (14-7, 11-3 Heart) avenged its loss from December and knotted things up atop the league standings. Suddenly-hot MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), which has won seven in a row, is also just one game back at 10-4, while Avila is in fourth at 8-6.; the top three teams from the league automatically qualify for the NAIA Division I National Championships in March.
PSC used an 11-0 run to blow things open early and cruised to a 44-28 halftime lead. The navy and gold, who were barely outshot 42.9%-42.3% and held a 42-37 rebounding edge, unfortunately remained stuck in that double-digit deficit for much of the second stanza.
Down 67-50 with 8:38 to go, the visitors finally made their move, slicing the Bobcat margin to single digits inside the five-minute mark. An 8-2 run pulled William Penn to within five at 78-73 with 1:49 on the clock, but Peru State closed it out with tremendous free-throw shooting (made their last eight tries, 19-for-25 overall).
In the end, 16 turnovers (nine for PSC) and their lack of perimeter success (5-for-23) doomed the Statesmen. The team was also colder than usual at the charity stripe, finishing 11-for-20.
Unfortunately, some of its big hitters had an off night as Dondre Alexander (Jr., Iowa City, Iowa, Physical Education), who is still nursing an injury, was limited to two points in 12 minutes of action. Steven Roundtree (Sr., Jacksonville, Fla., Physical Education) was also held to only 10 points (added three steals).
Brady Burford (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Physical Education) did his best to rally the squad, posting 22 points, while Jarvis Haywood (Jr., Charlotte, N.C., Business Management) did not shoot his best but still tallied 16 points.
Jeff Drew (Sr., Little Rock, Ark., Sociology) was big off the bench, recording eight points (4-for-5 FG) with a squad-high 11 rebounds. Josh Caldwell (Sr., Denver, Colo., Physical Education) added seven points as well.
Next Up: William Penn will return to Oskaloosa Wednesday to host Heart rival Grand View in the annual Toilet Paper game at 7:30 p.m.
