Outside The County-Peru

Results from the Peru boys basketball team from Saturday, March 9th

Tigers claim Regional Crown over West Lafayette 62-46 and advance to the Semi-State.

The Tigers traveled to Logansport, an old location for their Sectionals during single-class basketball, for the second time this season. This time seeking to claim their 4th Regional Championship and first since 1998.

Senior Alex Ross got the scoring started with a layup early in the contest. Junior Xavier Turner knocked in a bucket and Junior Gavin Eldridge buried a triple to help the Tigers keep pace with the Red Devils who chipped in 3 triples of their own in the quarter to take a 13-10 lead.

Ross chipped in another bucket and went 4-4 from the line and Senior Matthew Roettger with 2 baskets of his own to pace the Tigers in the early part of the second quarter. Sophomore Reis Bellar nailed a trey as did Senior Ian Potts to cut the deficit to 2 at the half.

The Tigers came out of the break and continued to do as they had all season and crank up the defense. West Lafayette didn’t score until there was 3:13 left in the quarter when they hit their first of 3 triples. Peru forced 6 turnovers in the quarter. Roettger had the hot hand scoring 12 points on 4 made shots and 4-5 from the line. Ross also added 7. Peru completely erased their deficit and took a 13-point lead into the final stanza.

The Tigers looked to slow the pace some and chew the clock with each possession offensively while making West Lafayette work to get good looks on the other end as well. Roegtter paced the Tigers with 8 points, and Eldridge and Turner each added a bucket to push the lead to 19 with around a minute to play. Juniors Ryne Butt and Jaxson Manriquez, Sophomores Jacob Boswell, Oliver Rabe, Isaac Braley, and Freshman Zion See all got to take the floor for the final minute of the game. They competed well against the regulars for West Lafayette as they played keep-away. West Lafayette hit a 3 at the buzzer to cut the lead to the final margin of 16.

The victory moves the Tigers to 16-10(5-4 TRC) on the season. They are back in action next Saturday with the time, location, and opponent to be drawn at 3 pm on Sunday, March 10th.

We want to thank all the fans who came to support us today!!

Scoring –

Matthew Roettger – 24

Alex Ross – 18

Ian Potts – 8

Gavin Eldridge – 5

Xavier Turner – 4

Reis Bellar – 3

By Adam Butt on Mar 9, 2024