After a strong start, the Central Methodist men’s basketball team ended its season with four straight losses, concluding with a heartbreaking upset to fifth-seeded Peru State College 76-72 in the Heart of America Conference Tournament Quarterfinals last Tuesday night inside Puckett Field House.

Central entered the tournament seeded fourth with a conference record of 15-9. The Eagles close out with 19 wins against 10 losses, their second-best record in the last five seasons behind last year’s 22-11 season.

In Tuesday’s loss, TreVon Smith led the Eagles’ offense with 17 points in addition to grabbing seven rebounds. Everett Stubblefield stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block.

The duo of Trey Sinegal and Peter Turay each chipped in 14 points, while Turay added six steals and a block to his stat line. Isaiah May nearly cracked double figures with eight points and tallied six rebounds, four assists, and a steal.

As a team, Central finished the night shooting 39.1 percent from the floor and 70.8 percent from the charity stripe.

The Bobcats converted on 47.4 percent of their baskets, knocking down 83.3 percent of their free-throw attempts. In addition, Peru State nailed seven 3-point baskets in the four-point win.

CMU held the advantage on the glass, grabbing 39 rebounds compared to 34 for PSC. Fourteen of Central’s rebounds came on the offensive glass.

But despite the upset, at least on paper, Central coach Matt Sherman said Peru State is far better than its fifth seed might suggest. The Eagles split against Peru State in the regular season, defeating a shorthanded Bobcats team by six points in December, before falling by 14  in February.

Peru State advanced to the tournament semifinals against MNU Friday night in Olathe, and again played the spoiler, defeating first-seeded and No. 10-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene 71-67. 

On Monday, the Bobcats defeated second-seeded Baker in the tournament finals on Monday 63-59 to claim the Hear of America Athletic Conference Tournament title.