Posted: Saturday, January 30, 2010 12:40 am | Updated: 2:32 am, Sat Jan 30, 2010.
By Peter Adelsen staff writer padelsen@kokomoperspective.com | 0 comments
PERU - It had a feel of a championship game. In a way, it could have been. It was physical and each team was not about to quit.
The Western Panthers came into Friday's game against the 3A second-ranked Peru Tigers on a three-game winning streak and only a game behind the Tigers in the Mid-Indiana Conference standings. The Peru Tigers have not seen a loss since November and were on an 11-game winning streak. If that was not enough, the Panthers also faced a hostile crowd.
The match-up sure did not disappoint, as the game was tight throughout as Peru made the crucial stops late in the fourth quarter to defeat Western, 50-41.
"The championship (atmosphere) was the Mid-Indiana Conference," said Peru coach Eric Thompson. "(Western was) playing hard and they wanted it bad. We were playing hard and we wanted it badly. The winner got to be in first place. The loser had to drop down a notch and they're tough. Coach Weaver is a very good coach, one of the best and he does a great job with his kids."
On the way to the victory for Peru, it was a physical battle from the start to the very end as both Peru's coach Eric Thompson and Western's coach Andy Weaver became heated with each other in front of the scorer's bench after an accidental Western take-down on a rebound attempt with seconds remaining. Following the game, both coaches made amends.
As the score was 6-4 in favor of the Tigers, Peru's senior Justin Engel stole the ball from the Panthers and drove to the basket only to be called for an offensive foul at 4:33 to go in the first quarter. This was only the beginning. Throughout the quarter, the Panthers and Tigers kept trading baskets, as the largest lead was four points when Peru was up 4-0 early.
One thing that Peru did at the conclusion of each quarter was to close them strong. Tigers' junior Taylor Smith hit a three-pointer with 44 seconds remaining and ended the quarter as Western's senior Jamal Johnson was called for a charging foul with 27 seconds remaining. The Tigers led after one quarter, 13-11.
The Panthers began the second quarter on a 6-0 run until Peru senior Terry Smith ended the Tiger drought with 4 minutes to go until the half. Western continued its second-quarter scoring run to 10-4 with 1:27 to go when junior Drew Larrick received an inbounds pass under the basket to score a quick lay-up. The Tigers quickly responded with a three-pointer from Terry Smith to cut Western's lead to 21-20. The quarter ended similar to the first quarter as Western junior Clay O'Neal was called for a charging foul with 3.7 seconds remaining. The Panthers led at the half, 21-20.
The third quarter was full of responses. The Tigers began the quarter on a 4-2 run and then junior Wes Zimmerman scored a three-point basket at 6:20 to go bringing the score to 27-23 Peru. Western's Johnson responded with a three-pointer and after the Tigers failed to score on their end, Western junior Brandon Larrick scored a lay-up and added a foul shot to give the Panthers a 29-27 lead with 5:05 to go. Peru's Terry Smith quickly scored a three-pointer to give the Tigers the lead again and less than 10 seconds later, Western's Johnson responded with another three-pointer to give the Panthers the lead again. As both teams fought, Peru finished the quarter on an 8-2 run, including a three-pointer in the corner by Taylor Smith at the quarter buzzer to give the Tigers a 40-34 lead after three quarters.
The Panthers quickly brought the game to a one-point deficit with 6:28 to play in the game. Peru's Zimmerman then made a three-pointer to increase the Tiger lead to four points. After Peru's Travis Smith stole the ball from Western with 5:12 to go, the Tigers' Terry Smith held the ball for 2 minutes, as the Panthers were content at slowing the game down. When Western senior Matt Reida began to guard Smith, the Tigers called a time-out. After the time-out, the Tigers held the ball again and then played keep away from Western until a Western sophomore John Capps fouled Peru's Travis Smith at 1:39 to go.
"We're the underdog on the road against a senior-laden team on their home court so we shortened the game," Western coach Andy Weaver said. "We got the ball back at four (points down) and unfortunately we didn't execute, but I don't regret that decision at all."
After a confrontational finish to the game, the Tigers defeated the Panthers 50-41 to give them a two-game lead in the Mid-Indiana Conference.
"It's up to the referees to dictate how the game is going to be played," Thompson said. "The kids are going to play as hard as they are going to allow them, especially on Coach Weaver's team and my team. Our kids play very hard. The referees allowed the game to be physical."
Western out-rebounded Peru 26-20 in the physical contest and the Panthers out-fouled the Tigers, especially in the second half with 13 to Peru's 2, to give Peru a 16-1 advantage in free-throw attempts.
"We would have loved to have won this game, but we battled and we'll move on," Weaver said. "I'm happy with our team's competitiveness."
Western's Drew Larrick led the Panthers in scoring with 12 as five of his teammates also scored.
Peru's Terry Smith finished with a game-high 21 points and Zimmerman scored 11 as he surpassed the 1,000-point barrier after making a three-pointer with 6:09 to go in the fourth quarter to bring his career total to 1,001 points.
Western (9-6, 3-2 MIC) next plays at conference-foe Taylor (9-5, 3-2 MIC) Friday at 7:30 p.m. Peru (13-1, 4-0 MIC) travels to conference-foe Lewis Cass (3-10, 0-4 MIC) Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Peru coach Thompson is proud of the way his team has battled the past two games with hard-fought wins over Taylor and now Western.
"We need to play teams like this and I am just real proud of our mental focus and we're going to get it at Cass, the next night (against Manchester) and the next week as Northwestern will be coming here. We just got to be ready. It's going to help us get prepared for the sectional against some tough teams we have in that."
Scores by quarter:
Western 11 10 13 7 =41
Peru 13 7 20 10 =50
Other games Friday:
Anderson 57 (8-6, 3-1 NCC), Kokomo 52 (9-5, 3-1 NCC)
#15-2A Taylor 57 (9-5, 3-2 MIC), Eastern 36 (8-5, 2-3 MIC)
Northwestern 56 (8-5, 2-2 MIC), Carroll 55 (7-6, 2-0 HHC), 7:30
Hamilton Heights 64 (11-4, 3-1 MIC), #6-2A Tipton 57 (8-3, 5-0 Hoosier)
Maconaquah 59 (5-8, 1-3 MIC), Lewis Cass 48 (3-10, 0-4 MIC)
Saturday's games:
Kokomo (9-5, 3-1 NCC) at Harrison (7-7)
Madison-Grant (11-3) at #15-2A Taylor (9-5, 3-2 MIC), 7:30
Twin Lakes (5-8) at Northwestern (8-5, 2-2 MIC), 7:30
#6-2A Tipton (8-3, 5-0 Hoosier) at Eastern (8-5, 2-3 MIC), 7:30
Clinton Central (1-10, 0-2 HHC) at Lewis Cass (3-10, 0-4 MIC), 7:30
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