South Bend IN. Culver and Peru squared off in the first game of the regional round in the IHSAA class 3A state tournament. The Eagles come in to Saturday with a relatively easy sectional week where they took down the defending champions the New Prairie. Peru faced a tougher road to their sectional final, culminating in a close win against Benton Central to claim their ticket to the regional.
           
The first-quarter started very competitive with both teams trading scores. Peru opened with a score right after tip to give the Tigers an early lead. After a shooting foul on Amir Gates, Peru got two more points from the line. Cooper Farrall scored on a high low with Daley Stein to get Culver on the board and keep the game at one possession. Gates picked up his second quickly on another shooting foul where Peru hit both shots. Farrall scored on another high low with Stein to keep Culver close, and Jokubas Skurdenis tied it with a put-back score. Peru scored on a dribble drive on the ensuing possession. Another shooting foul gave Peru a three-point advantage, but Skurdenis got the points back with an and-one score. Fola Fayemi gave Culver the lead on a steal and score on the next possession, and Andrew Macheca went to the line with a little over a second left to play in the first. He made both free throws to give Culver a two-possession lead to end the quarter, 13-9.
           
A large number of foul calls in the first put both teams in the bonus for the entire second-quarter, which only helped both offenses get going in the second quarter. Colin Chupp got to the line early with the help of the bonus and drained both free throws. Peru returned the favor on a foul from Collins. Macheca scored his pair from the line on the next possession, resulting in the third straight possession with foul called from the field. Collins Scored a big three on the next possession for Culver to give them their largest lead of the day at nine. Peru answered with three the old-fashioned way on the and-one. A three from Peru shortly after brought the game back to one possession with only a couple minutes left in the half. Skurdenis answered that three with one of his own as he was left wide open at the top of the key. Peru scored two quick threes on the next two possessions, however, and tied the game at 23. Skurdenis was left open again at the top of the arc and banged in another three to regain the Culver advantage. Peru scored in transition off a turnover from Skurdenis, but Collins picked him up with a score of his own in the lane. Skurdenis added his own to end the half with a five-point lead with a score of 30-25.
           
Stein opened the second-half with a steal which he turned into two points from the free-throw line after a shooting foul in transition. Farrall scored a three off a second steal from Stein to bring Culver to a seven-point lead. Peru made a three of their own, but Farrall scored in the lane again and got fouled to respond with three more. Peru got a quick score on their next possession, but Culver got the points back thanks to a putback from Fayemi. Peru managed to get a score, then a turnover and a score to get the game to six points, but again Farrall responded and banged in a three to bring the game back to nine-points. Peru scored after a Macheca foul and hit both shots from the line, then scored in transition after a Culver turnover. Fayemi scored a strong post move and Skurdenis scored on the next possession, with a Peru three in between. Farrall managed to get fouled at the end of the quarter in transition and hit one of two from the line to put Culver up seven at the end of the third, 48-41.
           
Peru got off to a hot start in the fourth in an attempt to try and steal the game. A three to open the quarter made it a four-point game, and two sets of free throws, thanks to being in the bonus, got the game tied. Fayemi ended the six-point swing from the Tigers off a nice pass from Gates, but Peru scored from the line yet again to tie it. Gates scored on a dribble drive to regain the lead, and Farrall scored off a steal from Collins to get the game back to two possessions. Peru got two more points from the charity stripe, but this time Culver wouldn't let them back in. Fayemi hit one of two from the line, and a block from Fayemi and a steal from Gates on the defensive possession allowed for Gate's transition layup to give Culver a five-point advantage. Peru made one of two from the line, but Macheca iced the game with a big corner three with less than two minutes to go. Farrall scored in transition to extend the lead to nine, and with little time remaining Peru couldn't mount a comeback. Skurdenis hit a pair from the foul line, and Fayemi scored off a full court pass to beat the press to help Culver seal the game, despite the efforts from Peru to end the game 66-59.
           
Culver advances to the regional final for the first time since 2019 to face off in a rematch game against Mishawaka Marian, a team that beat them earlier in the season. The game will tip-off from South Bend Washington at 8:00pm eastern time in a battle for the regional title.