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Peru’s boys basketball team offered an impressive encore Friday night to its Giant victory last week.
Class 3A No. 4-ranked Peru dominated the second half to beat Kokomo 67-53 in front of an estimated crowd of 3,300 fans in Memorial Gym, giving the Bengal Tigers back-to-back victories over North Central Conference schools. Peru beat Marion 58-46 last week at Purdue’s Mackey Arena.
The Bengals (9-1) gave their fans plenty to cheer about over the two games including something they had never seen before — a victory over the Wildkats in Memorial Gym, which opened in the 1948-49 season.
“It’s great. I have goose bumps,” Peru point guard Terry Smith said with a smile. “We beat Kokomo last year and to do it back-to-back years for the first time in more than 70 years is another great accomplishment. It feels awesome.”
“It means a lot,” Peru swingman Justin Engel added. “We were expecting to win coming in, but we knew no [Peru team] had won in here so it means a lot to us to finally get that win in here.”
Peru held a 31-30 lead after a first half that featured seven lead changes and three ties. Kokomo’s D.J. Balentine opened the second half with a 3-pointer, but the Tigers closed the third quarter on a 12-4 run to build a 43-37 advantage. Smith scored eight points for the Tigers. He repeatedly drove into the lane and also hit a 3-pointer.
“We came out and executed a play at the beginning of the third extremely well — the guys trusted the play, they trusted one another, and we knocked down a [3-pointer] to go up by two. From there, they outscored us by eight,” Kokomo coach Brian McCauley lamented. “We got flustered. We took quick shots offensively — we didn’t move the ball, we didn’t go inside-out, and a team like Peru makes you pay for that.”
Wes Zimmerman opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to push the Tigers’ lead to 46-37. Kokomo came no closer than seven the rest of the way. Peru played turnover-free basketball in the quarter and knocked down 13 of 19 free throws to keep Kokomo at arm’s length.
“They’re a team that plays with the lead really, really well,” McCauley said. “They handle the basketball well, they’re patient offensively, they move the basketball, they’re hard to trap and they shoot free throws well.”
The Tigers shot 57 percent from the field overall (21 of 37) and 40 percent from 3-point range (4 of 10). In addition, they committed just seven turnovers.
“We just wanted to play our own tempo, not get in their fast-paced game, and just score when we were open and not try to force anything,” Engel said.
Peru’s four seniors all scored in double figures. Smith led the way with 18 points, Engel followed with 15, Zimmerman had 13 and Danny Comerford had 11. Engel scored eight points in the opening quarter to put the Tigers on track and Zimmerman scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help slam the door shut.
Taylor Smith chipped in six points off the bench.
“I am very proud of how our guys played,” Peru coach Eric Thompson said. “This is quite a victory for us in more ways than one.”
Balentine’s 18 points led the Kats, who endured a chilly night outside of a hot streak from 3-point range in the second quarter when they five triples in three minutes. They finished 36 percent from the field and 56 percent from the free throw line.
Kokomo (6-2) will look to bounce back tonight when it visits sectional rival McCutcheon.
“The good news is we get to play [tonight],” McCauley said. “We don’t have to sit on this for four or five days, we get to play [tonight] and bounce back and see what kind of character we have. I think this team has good character — this team is together and we need to display that against McCutcheon.”
Peru plays Oak Hill tonight. From there, Peru will turn its attention to the Mid-Indiana Conference race — and from there, the state tournament.
“We have two good wins [this month] and we’re confident, but we’re not satisfied,” Engel said.
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