By E. Shawn Aylsworth
Managing Editor
Class 3A fourth-ranked Peru captured it first-ever victory at Memorial Gym with a decisive 67-53 win Jan. 8 over 4A No. 14 host Kokomo.
The victorious Tigers (9-1) shot 57 percent from the field, including 4 of 10 from 3-point range, and had just seven turnovers.
“It’s great – I have goose bumps,” Peru senior point guard Terry Smith told kokomotribune.com. “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.”
In one especially frenetic flurry in a contest that featured many, eight shots were taken in the last 49 seconds of the opening period, with Peru hitting three of them to assume a 19-13 lead after one. The last bucket came following a stolen in-bounds pass that led to senior Wes Zimmerman’s stealth bounce pass through Kokomo’s bigs in the lane for a layup by senior swingman Justin Engel just one second ahead of the buzzer.
The Tigers extended that run to 9-0 to go up 22-13, but Kokomo (6-2) barreled back with a barrage of five 3-pointers over two-and-a-half minutes to take a 28-26 lead with 4:29 left before halftime. A layup pushed the margin to four before a jumper from Engel (15 points) put Peru back on top at the half, 31-30 – the seventh lead change of the opening 16 minutes.
Peru was able to lead at the midway point despite two early fouls on Smith (18 points) getting toasted on the boards, 16-7. The Tigers countered those shortcomings with 62-percent shooting, never a bad thing.
Kokomo then reassumed the lead on the first shot of the second half – a three from D.J. Balentine (18 points) – but the Wildkats’ leading scorer collected his third foul at 5:40 and his fourth 23 seconds later. Peru responded with a 12-4 run over the rest of the period to lead, 43-37, heading to the fourth.
The Tigers pushed that advantage to 48-37 on a baseline jumper by Smith at 6:07, forcing a timeout from fourth-year Kokomo coach Brian McCauley after a 17-4 Peru run. In the bonus the rest of the way, Peru coasted home to the win as Kokomo never got closer than seven points.
After shooting 6 of 10 from behind the 3-point arc in the first half, Kokomo suffered significant foul trouble and went just 2 of 12 from downtown in the second.
Peru returns to action Jan. 9 with a home game against Oak Hill (3-6). Kokomo also gets back at it Saturday at McCutcheon (3-4), whose Friday night game at 4A No. 7 Noblesville was postponed.
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