North Putnam's struggles continue with 65-37 loss to Tri-West

Friday, February 15, 2008
North Putnam sophomore Kyle Adams shoots over Tri-West's Tyler Smith during the first quarter of Wednesday's contest. North?Putnam dropped the matchup 65-37.

BAINBRIDGE -- What can a team learn from a tough season? In the case of North Putnam it could be a sense of humility. With each loss, head coach Wes Peek remains extremely positive, while his squad unrelentingly fights to save its season.

On Wednesday, the Cougars fell to the Tri-West Bruins 65-37 but showed that any team that comes to their gym expecting an easy contest is in for a rude awakening.

"We got no complaints about the way our guys played," Peek acknowledged.

Coming out of the half, North Putnam led the Bruins 18-17 and a quick bucket from Kyle Adams bumped the lead to three points.

Tri-West's Caleb McVickers hit two free throws to cut the lead to one and a hoop and foul shot from Randall Lowe snatched away North's lead at the 4:19 mark.

"I think they just played a little harder. I think we played harder than they did in the first half. They really got after us," Peek said.

The Cougars were persistently attacked in the third quarter and had a difficult time advancing the ball. As soon as the Cougars inbounded the ball, the Bruins swarmed and forced North Putnam to turn the ball over repeatedly.

"Turning the ball over at the front of the press is demoralizing," Peek commented. "When you take the ball out after one of their makes and give it right back to them, mentally that kills you. We did that a lot but I thought our kids continued to play through it.

"Aside from turning the ball over a few times in a row at the top of their press, I thought we did a good job of handling the pressure they put on us. We coughed it up a few times and gave them layups and suddenly that lead can jump pretty quickly," Peek added.

Peek commented after the game that a key issue concerning the Cougars is their inability to score for long stretches in games and Wednesday night was no exception. The Cougars were outscored 48-19 in the second half, including an eight-point fourth quarter.

The contest started well for the Cougars as they held close to the Bruins, trailing 11-6 after one. Griffen Dahlstrom brought them within three and Brock Jones drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 11 with 7:03 on the clock. North seized the lead with 2:25 remaining when Dahlstrom converted a three-point play.

After recording the 16th loss of a season, it would be easy for a coach to gravitate toward something negative, but Peek's refreshing optimism of his team has yet to waver.

"I thought our guys played as hard and as well as we could expect them to. I have no complaints," he said.

North Putnam (1-16, 0-6 WCC) will host Covington (3-14) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

At North Putnam

Tri-West 11 6 23 25 -- 65

North Putnam 6 12 11 8 -- 37

Tri-West -- Lowe 21, McVicker 16, Groth 8, J. Pierie 8, Skudrovkis 4, Alvernaz 3, Moore 3, Pheifer 2. Totals: 24-53 FG 12-19 FT 65 TP.

North Putnam -- Jones 13, Dahlstrom 10, Adams 6, Ban 4, Lasiter 2, Hutcheson 1, Hadley 1. Totals: 14-37 FG 6-11 FT 37 TP.

3pt. FG -- Tri-West 5 (McVicker 2, J. Pierie 2, Lowe), North Putnam 3 (Jones 3).

Next game -- North Putnam (1-16, 0-6 WCC) will host Covington (3-14) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

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