Peru State
- Nov 22, 2019
- 7 min read
Peru State Bobcats (2-1, 1-0, ranked #25) vs. Missouri Valley Vikings (2-3, 0-1)
Wednesday, November 20, 2019 @ 7:30 PM
Peru, NE
Al Wheeler Activity Center
THE SCHOOL
Peru State College is a public liberal arts college in Peru, NE. It has an enrollment of 2,349 students and an endowment of $10.5 million. Established in 1867, Peru State is the oldest college in Nebraska; the University of Nebraska in Lincoln wasn't founded until two years later. According to their Wikipedia page, the Nebraska State Legislature has proposed several bills over the last twenty years aiming to either move Peru State's campus to a new location, turn it into a community college, or close the school permanently. In spite of this, Peru State has prospered (relatively speaking) by ramping up their online program and enjoying one of their largest freshman classes this year.
The Bobcats compete in the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) in Division 1 of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics). The NAIA is a governing body of college sports like the NCAA, and NAIA D1 is functionally analogous to NCAA Division II. It mostly consists of small colleges that don't emphasize athletics as much as an NCAA D-I program, but they do give athletic scholarships. However, after this academic year, the NAIA will merge its two divisions into one. If all things go well, I plan on seeing a game at an NAIA D2 school next week, and I'll talk more about what that means then.
Missouri Valley College (also referred to as MVC or MoVal) is located in Marshall, Missouri. The Vikings also compete in the Heart of America Conference, so even though it's still November, the HAAC has already started league play. The Heart of America consists of 13 schools, and each school plays each other twice. This means that the member institutions have to squish a 24-game conference schedule in their regular season. So, almost all of their games are against conference opponents. Of note, Peru State is the reigning Heart of America tournament champions.
THE TOWN
After work, I drove south on US-75 for about sixty miles before turning west on state highway 67 for the last stretch. Highway 75 between Omaha and Peru is a long, dark road that I don't want to drive again any time soon. Including a quick stop for dinner, it took an hour and a half to get to Peru (and an hour and ten minutes to get back to my apartment in Lincoln). Peru is about as close to Missouri as you can get while still being in Nebraska. It is in the far eastern portion of the state and I would have hit the Missouri River and crossed state borders had I kept driving for a few minutes.
Peru is a college town in the sense that, without a college, there isn't much of a town. The current population estimate is about 700 and I believe it. I only drove through one corner of town, but Google Maps claims there is one gas station and one grocery store in town limits and not a whole lot else. Honestly, it's a weird place to have a college. I suppose the school is here because it was founded as people were just starting to settle in Nebraska and it has easy access to the Missouri River, but the surrounding area never grew very much.
Once you enter college grounds, the whole area feels different. While still clearly rural, there are cars, buildings, and electric lights for the first time in about twenty miles. Since it was nighttime, I wasn't able to see all of campus, but the grassy hills and cute buildings let me know that it was an adorable place. Actually, I ended up seeing quite a bit more of the school than I intended because, while it's a cute campus, they could do with a few more parking spots. I drove through three full lots before finally seeing an open spot on my fourth try. Peru State is a small enough campus that no place is very far, though, so I still made it to the gym after a walk of just a few minutes.
The Al Wheeler Activity Center (AWAC) acts as both the basketball court and recreation center for Peru State. It has big windows and an awning over the front door, so it looks kind of strange for what it is. But the strangest part is that the court extends for twenty-five feet past the stage-right goal. Look at it, there's all this open space and no wall for some reason. Several times during the game, the ball went out of bounds on that side and a fan had to run out of the stands to get it because it rolled twenty-five feet away from the game. Also, the air conditioning didn't work fantastically well, but other than that, it was a nice little place.
THE GAME
After finally finding a place to park, I feared I would be late. Peru was doing a doubleheader, though, and the women's game went long so there was plenty of time for me to get in the gym and find a seat. I was impressed with the crowd. I estimate attendance was between 250 and 300 people and most of them were very excited and engaged through the whole game. The student section was directly to my left and the bleachers in that section were about three-quarters full. Overall, I'd guess that 70-80 percent of everyone there was a student. I suppose there isn't much else to do in Peru on a Wednesday.
When I went to Nebraska Wesleyan last week, it seemed like all their players were from Nebraska. This was not the case for Peru State. Only eight of their seventeen players were Nebraskans. They had players from Chicago, Las Vegas, and Brooklyn, as well as one each from Lithuania and Croatia. (Neither of the Eastern European guys played.) I looked at Peru's women's team, and they have a player from New Zealand and two from Brazil. I don't know why an NAIA school in a rural Midwestern town of 700 attracts so many international basketball players, but apparently they do.
The mom, dad, and sister of one of the Missouri Valley players sat in front of me. This was fun to watch. They knew all the MVC players and kept a playful banter with the Peru student section throughout the game. At one point in the first half, their guy got called for a technical foul. This caused the mom to yell onto the court, "Darrell, what'd you get called for?" Darrell yelled back, "they said I flopped." Darrell's mom couldn't believe it. She was right; it was a bogus call.
The game was scheduled to start at 7:30 but, because the women's game went long, it didn't actually start until about 7:45. And when it did start, MVC came out hot. They scored the first eight points of the game and held Peru from scoring for almost three full minutes. MVC then went on another run and led 16-2 after just over four minutes. Peru looked absolutely helpless right off the bat, and trailed by 20 with 12:30 left in the first half. Remember Darrell? Whose mom sat in front of me? Well, MVC's #23, Darrell Watson, was the best player on the court in the first half. He scored 12 points before halftime and had the highlight of the game on a transition layup where he confused four Bobcat defenders by cradling the ball behind his back. His family was very proud. And his team kept playing well; even after a buzzer-beating three by Peru State, Missouri Valley led 49-26 at the half. It was a bloodbath in front of a frustrated crowd. Peru State ended the first half shooting 33% from the field, 18% from 3, and 34% from the free throw line. Yikes.
The halftime entertainment was a trio of three-point shooting contests featuring two students each. Contestants competed for "prizes" that were never revealed and I'm not convinced they were real. The hype man (another college student) got people to participate by looking into the student section and asking "alright who wants to do it?" This kind of thing would never fly at a larger school, but it seemed just right based on what I was learning about Peru State.
The first part of the second half wasn't much better for the Bobcats. Peru State kept mounting small runs that were always answered by MVC, and with ten minutes left, they still trailed by 19 (67-48). While Peru's scoring and defense improved, their consistent free throw misses kept the from clawing back. With 7:49 left, MVC's Alonzo Williams made a shot right under the basket to give the Vikings a 73-57 lead. No one in the stadium knew that it would be MVC's last made field goal. After then, Peru State's comeback effort started in earnest. With four minutes left, the Bobcats still trailed 76-61 but they soon gained all the momentum. Their defense tightened to a stranglehold and #5, Nate Townsen Jr., took over on offense. He ended up scoring 20 points on 7/10 and added 3 steals. At 3:02, Peru cut the lead under 10 and at 1:06, they cut it all the way down to 5. The Bobcats went on a 10-0 run in three minutes to make a once-26-point deficit into a two possession game. With :49 left, Townsen stole the ball and Isaac Simpson scored a layup to cut the Vikings' lead to 76-73. And with 35 seconds on the clock, Darrell Watson missed a shot to give Peru State a chance to tie. Actually, they had three chances. With 22 seconds remaining, Peru had a 3 go off the rim. Watson rebounded but could't hang on to the ball and gave it right back to Peru. At :13, Peru attempted another 3 pointer that missed, but the ball hit a Missouri Valley player and went out of bounds. Finally, with 6 seconds on the clock, Peru's Deonte McReynolds got off a good-looking shot that was just too far to the right, and it bounced off the back off the rim and into the hands of MVC's #34, Dusaan Allen. Allen was immediately fouled and made both free throws, effectively ending the game. Peru State made a last second layup to cut their final deficit to 3, and the Bobcats ended their comeback attempt with a loss.
Final: Missouri Valley 78, Peru State 75
Sorry, this ended up being a longer post than I anticipated. It was a good game and Peru, NE is kind of a weird place, so there was a lot to write about.
Next Up: York College
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