GAS CITY — For the first time since the 1950s, Peru’s boys basketball team is celebrating a sectional three-peat.
Peru made it three in a row by beating Mississinewa 48-44 in the Class 3A Mississinewa Sectional championship game on Saturday night.
The Bengal Tigers (15-10) didn’t have the game in hand until the final seconds. Peru was up 44-39 with :27.2 left. Mississinewa (16-9) missed a free throw, and on the rebound the Tigers’ Gavin Eldridge was fouled, but on the same play, one of Peru’s players was called for a technical.
After Eldridge hit one of two free throws, Mississinewa’s Jesse Simpkins hit both technical free throws to cut Peru’s lead to 45-41, and the Indians took possession of the ball. After the Indians failed to convert on that possession, Peru’s Reis Bellar hit one of two free throws to make it 46-41 with :18.1 left.
The Indians’ Gannon Smith made it a two-point game, 46-44, by making a 3-pointer at :07.6. In the ensuing possession, the Indians fouled Eldridge, and he connected on both free throws to put the game out of reach, and give Peru a 48-44 victory and its 43rd all-time sectional title.
“Mississinewa really fought, and they had a chance there at the end,” Peru coach Travis Smith said. “We could never put them away, but our guys did grind it out.”
Peru opened the game on a 9-2 run and went on to lead 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.
“The message was clear,” Smith said. “We got to get on them early to build the momentum and we did.”
In the second quarter, both teams scored 10 points apiece as Peru led 24-18 at halftime.
After a shoddy performance from the 3-point arc (3 of 13) in the first half, Peru went more into the paint. The Tigers’ Alex Ross scored six of his 13 points on layups.
“[Ross] is so versatile in his size and strength,” Smith said. “He started driving out there. He makes good decisions of going to the hole and finishing, and holding up and kicking out. … He gets a ton of rebounds. He is always working too, so he was huge [Saturday].”
Eldridge led Peru with 16 points. Besides Ross’ 13 points, Matthew Roettger also had 13 points, along with 14 rebounds for a double-double. His career point total is now at 1,421 points.
Peru plays West Lafayette in a one-game regional next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Logansport. West Lafayette defeated Twin Lakes 45-43 Saturday to win the Frankfort Sectional.
