Peru, Neb. – The Central Methodist University men's basketball team fell at the final buzzer on Wednesday evening at Peru State College, by a final of 87-85.
With the loss, the Eagles fall to 16-11 overall and 13-10 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play. With the victory, Peru State College improves to 11-16 overall and 10-13 in The Heart.
Wednesday's contest between the Eagles and Bobcats, was tight throughout. In the first half, the Central Methodist offense struggled to find their rhythm from the field. The Eagles shot just 13-of-34 from the field, but did manage to knock down seven three-pointers and they shot 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Peru State on the other hand, shot an impressive 16-for-30 from the field and took the slim 41-38 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Eagles would fight back. Central shot the ball better from the field (14-for-27), but were outrebounded on the glass 20-11. CMU shot an impressive 14-for-18 from the charity stripe in the second half, and outscored Peru State 47-46. But it wasn't enough, as the game came down to the final seconds.
Senior guard Ron Lee (SR/Oak Park, Calif.) exchanged buckets with Peru State in the game's final minute, and the game would be even at 85-85 with 32 seconds remaining. Peru State brought the ball up court slowly with the shot clock turned off. With four seconds on the clock, Rashad Brackeen fired up a three-pointer and missed, and Brandon Eboigboden came down with the big offensive rebound. Eboigboden went up for a lay-up and missed with his teammate Allias Roberts-Burnett getting yet another offensive rebound for the Bobcats. He then put up a shot as time expired that dropped into the bucket to give Peru State the 87-85 buzzer-beater victory.
In the heartbreaking loss, four Eagles finished in double-figure scoring, led by Ron Lee. He finished with 31 points on 10-of-17 shooting in 24 minutes of action. Brian Egejuru (JR/Lawrenceville, Ga.) chimed in with 15 points off the bench, and Cole Adair (SR/Fishers, Ind.) finished with eight points and team highs with five rebounds, four steals and four assists.
The Eagles return to action this Saturday, when they travel to Olathe, Kansas for a meeting with MidAmerica Nazarene University. The game is scheduled to begin at 4pm, with the women's game to precede the men at 2pm.
For more information about Central Methodist University athletics, visit http://www.cmueagles.com. Follow CMU athletics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cmathletics and on Twitter twitter.com/cmueagles.
