Park University's men's basketball program opened 2023-24 Heart of America Athletic Conference play with a victory over Peru State College on Wednesday, defeating the Bobcats 82-66.
The Pirates move up to 3-2 on the young 2023-24 season and are off to a good start in the Heart at 1-0. Peru State was undefeated coming into tonight and are now 4-1 and 0-1 in the Heart, a team that was selected 4
th in the 2023-24 Heart Preseason Coaches' Poll.
The Pirates got off to a 6-2 start on account of
Jaden Robinson,
DeMarcus Hudson, and
Jasigha Barnes. The Bobcats would counter though to take a 10-8 lead with 16:25 on the clock. Robinson put up two consecutive buckets to give the Pirates a 12-10 lead. After a few scoring exchanges, the Pirates went on an 8-0 run over a 2:09 span and led 22-13 at 10:12. The lead dwindled in the last 10 minutes of play though as a six-point lead at 3:12 got flipped to a 38-37 Bobcat halftime lead by the time the half was out on a 9-2 run by Peru State. Â
There were six lead changes for the game and five came in the first half. Peru State shot 40-percent from beyond the arc at 4-of-10, while Park was 0-of-8 of the same. When considering this it really is miraculous the production the Pirates were able to achieve inside and were shooting it overall better from the field at 47.2-percent to the Bobcats' 40-percent. The Bobcats also had the advantage at the line at 10-of-11, while Park only had four opportunities but knocked down three-of-four.
Park made some fantastic plays at the rim tonight and two major first half dunks were captured by
Augusto Hausmann and
Jaden Robinson.
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AJ Watson signaled that the three-point drought was over in the second half with a made three-pointer in the first shot of the second half. It was a special performance from the senior with 19 points in the second half and was a perfect three-of-three in the second half from three-point range.
As the second half continued, Park was finally able to gain some separation on the Bobcats with 9-1 scoring spree for a 10-point lead at the 13:14 mark, 55-45. It looked as if Peru State was about to capture all the momentum with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to only three points, 55-52, but at 10:10 Park caught fire with an 11-0 run over 3:10 to force a Peru State timeout. The Pirates got up to largest lead through this point in the game for a 14-point advantage, 68-54. There was some back-and-forth between these squads down the stretch, but Park eventually held on for the 82-66 win. The Pirates reached their largest lead of 18 with only 11 seconds remaining.
The Bobcats were only four-of-11 from beyond the arc in the second half compared to three-of-five for Park. The Bobcats' advantage from the strike disappeared as well in the second half as only a combined eight free throws were taken in the second half by both teams. Park's shot lights out in the second half from the field too with 20-of-32 half for 62.5-percent.
For the game Park shot 55.2-percent to the Bobcats' 39.3-percent. Peru State had seven more turnovers in the contest, 18 to 11, which gave Park a three-point favor in points off turnovers.
Watson led the way with 25 points and had an all-around great game with eight assists and six rebounds.
The big man combo of Hausmann and Robinson was hard for the Bobcats to stop as both earned double-doubles. Robinson had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Hausmann matched on rebounds and scored 17 points.
Robinson showed great energy in all facets tonight and joined play-by-play announcer Jacob Oyler for a Pirate Post-Game interview.
Barnes and Robinson each showed good hands with four steals each.
Hudson and Hausmann showed good vision, like Watson, for four assists each.
Hudson, Barnes, and
Savian Edwards contributed complementary scoring performances with one eight-point and two six-point performances, respectively.
Park looks to continue the good fortunes at home against William Penn University on Saturday, November 18 at 5pm on Claude English Court.
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