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Tiger Cubs control tempo, pick up win against North Putnam 47 -29
By DAN SHELTON
Sports Writer
It's been a long time coming.
Glen Hiles' Tiger Cubs finally got two in a row, wins that is, after knocking off North Putnam 47-29 Tuesday. It was the first back-to-back wins since they beat South Putnam and Cloverdale in the Putnam County Tournament back in November.
"This feels great," Hile said.
From the tip off, Greencastle controlled the tempo of the game and never really gave it up.
"We controlled them from the start and had some shooting problems in the first quarter but, we corrected our shooting problems in the second quarter," Hile said.
Greencastle outscored the Cougars 8-6 in the first quarter and six of those points were second chance points off of rebounds.
"I was happy with our first quarter," NPHS Coach Kevin Smith said. Defensively we were better in the first than in the second quarter. Six of their eight points were put-backs and if you take that out, we only gave up two points."
North Putnam's defense slipped in the second quarter and the Tiger Cubs took advantage of that outscoring the Cougars 15-9 and kept pressure on for the remainder of the game.
"Really the effort tonight was in our man-to-man defense. Cassie Alspaugh held Carlye McGaughey to only three (points) and that was one late one," Hile said. "We dogged her and Taylor Alles didn't hurt us and that's who were we were going to shut out and Leah Crosby had a good game and if they were going to beat us it was going to have to be someone besides those two."
Alles, the Cougars other main scorer, was held to only one point and that was from a free throw in the second quarter while Crosby chipped in eight points.
"We haven't played in nine days. Being away from basketball this long I think we lost our legs and we were tired. I think we were out of rhythm with each other and we didn't come out with the intensity that I would have liked us too," Smith said.
Hile mention earlier in the week that Hannah Spencer would probably only be at 80 percent by the time sectional came around, but after the way she played Tuesday night; she might be more.
Spencer who only scored five in the first half, poured it on in the second half, scoring 10 points and causing the Cougars problems left and right defensively.
"This was Hanna best ball game since Tri-West and when she plays like this it rubs off," Hile said. "She must be feeling good because she is still hurting, but when she plays like this the rest us play better and we are a pretty good ball club.
"This is the hardest defense we have played since the Plainfield game," Hile said.
Despite the loss, Smith saw some positive things in his team.
"Even though we lost, I do think that we played hard tonight," Smith said. "We found an extra gear in the second half, we played with it and that's were we have been all year long. We will play good for two quarters or the first three and not the last one and tonight we played better in the second half."
As team the Cougars shot 11-for-38 from the field for the evening, but did break double digits in scoring in the fourth quarter with 12 points.
"Our shooting wasn't there tonight and that's a daily thing. But we do have a lot of basketball coming up so I'm sure we will get it back," Smith said.
With the win Greencastle improves to 8-9 on the season and 4-1 in the West Central Conference. Its next game is schedule for Friday when they will travel to Monrovia for another WCC contest starting at 6 p.m.
North Putnam drops to 5-12 on the season and 1-4 in the WCC with their next contest slated for today against Speedway starting at 7:30 p.m.
At North Putnam
Greencastle 8 15 11 13 -- 47
N. Putnam 2 9 6 12 -- 29
N. Putnam -- Kumaran 3 0-1 7, Frye 0 2-2 2, Crosby 2 0-0 4, Alles 0 1-2 1, Robinson 0 2-2 2, Malayer 1 0-0 2, Crosby 4 0-0 8, McGaughey 1 0-0 3. Totals -- FG 11-38 , FT 5-7, 29.
Greencastle -- Nobles 1 0-0 2, Burgeson 0 0-0 0, Spencer 5 5-5 15, Samules 2 0-0 4, Grivas 4 0-2 8, Alspaugh 1 0-0 2, Miller 4 2-2 10, Wainman 2 0-0 4, No. 44 1 0-0 2. Totals -- FG 20-46, FT -- 7-9, 47.
Next Game -- Greencastle @ Monrovia on Friday, 6 p.m. North Putnam VS Speedway at 7:30 p.m.