11/25/06

For the second night in a row, the Saints took a narrow lead into the halftime intermission only to watch it fall by the wayside in the second half, this time resulting in a 92-86 loss to Peru State in the concluding game of the Snyder Classic in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday night.

The Saints shot 54 percent from the field in the opening half to help themselves to a 45-42 lead at the break. Both William Maupins and Brady Zubke reached double figures in the half but Peru's Marlis Lovelace led all scorers with 15 to keep the Bobcats close.

Peru ran off six unanswered points to start the second half and just like that, the game seemed as if it was reset to the opening tip.

For the next seven minutes the lead would flip-flop back and fourth between the two teams. St. Scholastica led 60-59 with 11:14 to play but it would prove to be their last lead of the game as Peru's 7-0 run gave them a six point lead.

The Saints pulled within two on a Zubke basket at 8:08 but from that point on the Bobcats were able to stretch their lead out and finish the game off with a six point margin of victory.

For the third consecutive game Maupins led the Saints in scoring, setting a new career high with 20 points in the loss. He also had a game-high eight rebounds and two blocks.

Zubke (18), Derek Johnson (17), Jesse Taylor (12) and Akente Ward (10) all reached double figures for the Saints but the Bobcats shot a blistering 63 percent from the filed, 47 percent from behind the 3-point line, to compensate for the five Saints reaching double digit scoring numbers.

St. Scholastica drops to 1-4 on the season with the loss while Peru State picks up their second win of the season, improving their record to 2-6.