On paper, Tuesday’s nonconference game between La Salle-Peru and Normal U-High was a battle between two of the top teams in Class 3A.

The Cavaliers entered with 15 wins and the Pioneers had 17.

Both teams were ranked in the top 20 by Nesto Hoops with U-High at No. 15 and L-P at No. 17.

However, the Cavs were without four players, including leading scorer Marion Persich, due to a bench-clearing incident against Washington on Jan. 17.

The Pioneers took advantage of L-P being short-handed, taking a double-digit lead 5:12 into the game and cruising to a 75-47 running clock victory at Sellett Gymnasium in La Salle.

“Marion is definitely a very good basketball player and he’s a big difference maker for our team, but the rest of the kids did not show up to play basketball tonight,” L-P coach John Senica said. “U-High came in here aggressive. They’re a very good basketball team. My kids did not show up at all, plain and simple.”

U-High coach Andrew McDowell said L-P not having Persich impacted the game.

“There’s no doubt that (Persich) not playing is a big deal for them,” McDowell said. “He’s a really good player. We were looking forward to playing against one of the best athletes in the state, a multi-sport guy. Going into the game we felt like it was a big game for us. We wanted to get off and play really well and play hard and see how the chips fell at the end. Tonight was our night.”

U-High’s Cameron Johnson scored on then first possession of the game and the Pioneers never trailed.

On U-Hgh’s second trip down the floor, Owen Kirby drained a 3-pointer to start a big night for him and the Pioneers from behind the arc.

Kirby buried five 3-pointers and U-High knocked down 12 as a team, shooting 44.4% from 3-point range.

Johnson and Dallas Smith also were able to drive into the lane and get to the basket for U-High, giving the Pioneers an inside-out attack.

Kirby finished with 18 points for U-High (18-4), while Johnson had 11.

“Our balance is really important to us,” McDowell said. “We’re deep. We play a lot of guys and almost everyone we put on the floor we think can either make an outside shot or can attack the basket. We think that’s really difficult for teams to play against when we have good balance within our roster.”

Kirby sank two 3s in the first quarter and hit three free throws with 2.7 seconds left in the opening quarter to give U-High a 20-8 lead after the first. The Pioneers led by at least 12 points the rest of the way and pushed their lead to as many as 39.

“They shot lights out,” Senica said. “They’re a very good basketball team, but our kids did not show up to play defense. We didn’t close out on 3s. We did not show up to play offense. We didn’t run our sets. We didn’t do anything of what our game plan was. We just collectively did not show u to play tonight. I don’t really know why.”

Gavin Stokes led L-P (15-6) with 11 points, while Jameson Hill added 10 points.

The Cavs look to bounce back when they travel to Kaneland (20-0) for an Interstate 8 Conference game Friday followed by another conference game at home Saturday against Sycamore (17-3).

L-P lost to Kaneland 67-50 in the Plano Christmas Classic and lost 70-56 to the Spartans in an I-8 game Dec. 16.

“We have to focus,” Senica said about how L-P can bounce back. “It’s not going to be a very fun couple of practices.

“We have two more state-ranked teams (this week). We have to focus real quick or we’re going to get our butts kicked. They’re both very good. We played with both of them. We can beat both of them. It’s a matter of us focusing and actually doing what we need to do.”