Reinartz’s second-half treys help Rochester claim senior night win

Bowers’ halfcourt shot, Prater’s 13 highlight win over Peru

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester boys basketball 2025 seniors L-R Bryce Baugher, Drew Bowers, Owen Prater, Tanner Reinartz and Xavier Vance. Both teams were wearing the FS (Ford Strong) shirts on Friday night in support of Ford Smith who remains in a Florida hospital. Photo courtesy of the great Paula Beehler

The Rochester boys basketball seniors were recognized before Friday’s game against Peru at the RHS gym, but if there was much to celebrate in the gym, the blessings generated from the gym extended all the way to a hospital in Florida.

The Zebras were strong. Now they hope Ford Smith gets stronger.

Drew Bowers scored 16 points, including a halfcourt 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer, and Tanner Reinartz hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in the third quarter as Rochester beat Peru 64-52.

Reinartz hit two more 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 14 points, and Owen Prater added 13 as Rochester improved to 15-4 overall and 6-2 in the Three Rivers Conference.

Xavier Turner scored a game-high 17 for Peru, who fell to 9-11, 4-4. Reis Bellar added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Rochester held Zion See, who had scored in double figures 14 times this season, to nine and Gavin Eldridge, who had scored in double figures 12 times this season, scoreless in the second half.

Rochester also forced 23 Peru turnovers.

This marked the sixth straight year that the home team won the Rochester-Peru game.

Bowers, Reinartz, Prater, Bryce Baugher and Xavier Vance were the senior players honored. Assistant coach Luke Smith was back on the Rochester bench. Smith’s son Ford, 16 months, is in an Orlando hospital, and coaches and players on both sides wore “Ford Strong” t-shirts.

“We probably had one of our better crowds Friday night being senior night and the Ford Strong thing,” Rochester coach Rob Malchow said. “Obviously, Peru’s players and coaches and our players and coaches wore their Ford Strong shirts. It was neat to see two communities really come together. And for Luke to be back here for senior night wanting to see the guys off, for him, it was kind of a getaway of the stress and challenges that they’re dealing with as a family. I know he was really appreciative of the players and the reception and the support he’s getting for Ford. So it was emotional after the game, and to have the players and coaches get together… We talked about… the family piece of what coach Smith has meant to these guys going back to the summer workouts and things, and he puts in that time with the offense also during the season especially.

“But it was something that sports is about, I guess, for him. Because I think when Luke’s down there, and he’s dealing with the issues that they deal with, when he has a chance to watch film or something, I think it’s kind of a getaway, a break. He’ll email me or text me something that I think clears his mind or gets his mind off the difficulties and challenges they got.”

Carson Paulik threaded a pass from the right block to Reinartz – Bellar partially tipped the ball but it still made it to Reinartz – in the left corner for the trey that gave Rochester a 42-39 lead. They never trailed again.

Reinartz hit another 3 from the left of the key on the first possession of the fourth quarter to increase the lead to six.

Turner scored on a power layup, but Baugher hit two free throws at the 5:41 mark.

Turner then snuck behind the Zebra defense for a layup on an inbounds play, but Rochester scored on an inbounds play of their own as Paulik utilized a Prater screen to get open on a curl and then can a 15-footer.

When Reinartz hit his third 3 of the half off the dribble after getting a flying Bellar to commit on a fake, the lead was up to nine.

When officials hit Peru coach Travis Smith a technical foul with 3:19 left – Smith had received an earlier bench warning – Prater split a pair of technical free throws to get the lead to double digits for the first time.

The lead got as big as 64-50 on two Jonas Kiser free throws with 33.7 seconds left.

Of Rochester’s last 12 points, 10 came on free throws. Rochester made more free throws (15) than Peru attempted (13).

“But I think the big thing at the end of the third quarter and going into the fourth quarter and through the fourth quarter was our pressure,” Malchow said. “I think we ended up forcing them into 23 turnovers. … And that was big in terms of our chances to score versus theirs. We were 15 of 23 from the line. That was big down the stretch.

“Peru, like us, or Valley or Triton or any of those teams we’ve played, they don’t quit. So when we would get an eight, 10-point lead, they’d come roaring back. It was a typical Peru-Rochester game, and the guys just did a good job finishing it in the fourth quarter.”

Rochester jumped out to a 19-10 lead after one quarter with Bowers scoring eight points and Peru committing seven turnovers.

Turner scored on Peru’s first two possessions of the second quarter, but Bowers and Prater scored on drives to the bucket to restore a nine-point lead.

But a See steal and layin in transition, a Bellar banker and an Eldridge 3 after an offensive rebound got Peru within 23-21.

Peru would get within 26-25 on two Eldridge free throws – he finished with eight points – with 3.9 seconds left in the half, but Bowers received the inbounds pass, split two defenders and then banked in a 42-footer for a four-point halftime lead.

The shot was about a step beyond the 40-footer that Paulik hit at the halftime buzzer against Plymouth Feb. 11 in a game the Zebras went on to win 70-57.

“On the practice we have before game night… we love to shoot halfcourt shots,” Malchow said. “Each gets one shot, and if you make it, you get a Gatorade. … I’ve done that since I was coaching girls basketball back in the ‘90s. And I came in, and I told the guys, I said, ‘Listen, I think the best thing we do in practice is our halfcourt shots before game nights,’ because obviously it has paid off big the last two out of four games, and sure enough, that was a big momentum swing.”

See and Bellar hit 3-pointers in the first 1:21 of the second half to give Peru their first lead at 31-29.

A Prater steal and breakaway layup tied it. Turner and Prater exchanged two free throws each to tie it at 33.

Prater put back his own miss at the rim after a Bowers feed, but Isaac Braley scored in transition off a Bellar assist, and when Turner scored in transition off a Zebra miss, Peru led 37-35.

But a Bowers steal and layup tied it, and Paulik hit a twisting layup off a Prater assist from the mid-post to put Rochester back on top 39-37.

But Eldridge escaped a trap along the right sideline and hit Bellar in the lane for a short jumper to tie it again with 1:15 left in the quarter.

Peru won the JV game 60-54 in overtime. Peru’s Kingston Eldridge scored 24 points, including the game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer of regulation and four of his team’s nine points in the overtime.

Aiden Wilson and Brady Coleman scored 12 points each, and Mitchell Clark had 10 for Rochester. Conner Dunfee added nine, Alex Chapman had five, Ashton Musselman had four, and Trenton Meadows had two.

In other TRC action Friday, Maconaquah beat Class 2A, No. 3 Manchester 75-70 in overtime, handing the Squires their first conference loss. Manchester’s loss keeps Rochester’s chances for a share of the TRC title alive.

Rochester 64, Peru 52

PERU (52) (9-11, 4-4)

Gavin Eldridge 2 2-2 8, Zion See 4 0-0 9, Isaac Braley 2 1-2 6, Xavier Turner 6 5-6 17, Reis Bellar 4 1-3 10, Jacob Boswell 1 0-0 2, Talin Douglass 0 0-0 0, Landen Crowe 0 0-0 0, Jaxson Manriquez 0 0-0 0, Jackson Boswell 0 0-0 0, Karsten Black 0 0-0 0, Kingston Eldridge 0 0-0 0, Ryne Butt 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 19 9-13 52

ROCHESTER (64) (15-4, 6-2)

Drew Bowers 7 1-2 16, Bryce Baugher 2 2-5 7, Tanner Reinartz 5 1-2 14, Owen Prater 4 5-6 13, Xavier Vance 1 0-0 2, Carson Paulik 2 2-4 6, Mitchell Clark 0 0-0 0, Brady Coleman 0 0-0 0, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0, Jonas Kiser 1 4-4 6, Grant Clark 0 0-0 0, Jack Reffett 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 22 15-23 64

Three-point field goals:

Peru 5 (Eldridge 2, Bellar, See, Braley),

Rochester 5 (Reinartz 3, Bowers, Baugher)

Total fouls: Peru 23, Rochester 18

Technical foul: PERU bench, 3:19, fourth

Fouled out: Braley (PERU), 1:49, fourth

Turnovers: Peru 23, Rochester 12

Score by quarters

Peru 10 15 14 13 – 52

Rochester 19 10 13 22 – 64

JV: Peru 60, Rochester 54 (OT)