Boone survived a last-second scare to come away with a 50-49 Raccoon River Conferece win over host Perry Tuesday. The win was the seventh straight for the Toreador boys (13-5, 11-2) while the Bluejays fell to 10-7 and 7-5 with the loss.
The teams had met Jan. 17 in Boone, with the Toreadors dominating for a 57-42 victory, but it was clear from the start no such repeat was likely on the Bluejay hardwood.
Perry held leads of 12-6 after one frame and of 28-23 at the half, then appeared to have taken control of the game by opening a 38-29 gap midway through the third quarter. The guests rallied behind Johnathan Herrick and Ethan Lewis to close the gap to 41-36 entering the four period, setting the stage for a tense final eight minutes.
In polite parlance it can be said that neither team cares much for the other, and emotions were raw for most of the game, particularly in the fourth frame, which stood tied at 44-all on a Lewis 3-pointer from the top of the key with four minutes to play.
Perry scored for a 46-44 edge, but Lewis splashed another trey for a one-point Boone edge that lasted until under a minute to play when the Bluejays grabbed a 48-47 edge.
Lewis answered again by burying his fourth second-half triple to give the Toreadors a 50-48 advantage with 16 seconds to play. Perry called a timeout and ran a play, with junior guard Brandon Kenyon fouled on an attempted 3-pointer with 3.3 ticks still on the clock.
Awarded three free throws, Kenyon missed the first, with Boone calling a timeout. Kenyon’s second shot fell to bring the hosts within 50-49, but his third attempt was off-target and bounded away.
Kenyon was able to run down his own miss, but a hurried shot at the buzzer was no good, leaving the guests with the win.
Janier Puente scored 18 points for Perry, with Kyle Nevitt adding 12. Kenyon finished with seven points and Rashon Ivory with five, with Drew Levan providing three points and Tanner Duffy and Mark Campos two foul shots apiece.
Lewis finished with 17 points to lead Boone, with Trevor VanPelt adding eight points and Herrick seven. Dresden Wilson and Justin Aspengren had five points apiece, Tanner Schminke four and Lane Losh and Gabe Krafcisin two apiece.
Perry’s 6-5 seniors Nevitt and Puente were matched with the 6-5 Herrick and 6-8 Krafcisin with the former scoring 12 and eight points in the first meeting, respectively, and the latter eight and 12. The Bluejay duo dominated the rematch, but Perry was doomed by their own inability to score at the foul line, hitting just 9-of-23 as a team while Boone connected on 8-of-10, easily the difference in the game.
Nevitt and Puente were honored before the boys game, as were fellow Bluejay seniors Grant Eklund, Dane McCarty and Noah Wilkening, Jayette seniors Grace Marburger, Emma Olejniczak and Maddie West and cheerleader Brooke Huntington.
Also noted were pep band seniors Brian Amaya, Devon Archer, Lauren Benjamin, Brennan Carrillo, Alexandrya Hopkins, Edwardo Medina, Zach Mills, Jacob Murillo, Jairo Murillo and Samantha Paulin.
Perry visits Bondurant-Farrar Friday before hosting Carroll, at 1 p.m. Saturday, in a rescheduled game from Jan. 24.
