South Putnam mauled by Bulldogs

MONROVIA--South Putnam was clobbered early and never recovered, falling to Monrovia 74-36 in a West Central Conference boys basketball game at Branch McCracken Memorial Gym.

The Eagles (2-10, 0-4) trailed 15-0 and 26-3 in the first quarter to the red-hot Bulldogs, who won their seventh straight game.

"Coach (Chris) Sampson has them playing well right now and rolling along," South Putnam coach Micah Elliott said. "We were right in their path."

The Bulldogs (9-3, 4-1 WCC) connected on 5-of-6 3-pointers, were 8-of-16 shooting overall from the field and 5-of-5 at the foul line in the first quarter.

"They came ready to play and really took it to us," Elliott said. "They did a nice job of knocking down shots. They shot well and we didn't contest very well. Even when we did contest, they still made shots."

South Putnam also had problems against Monrovia's man-to-man pressure. The Eagles committed nine turnovers in the first quarter, 22 for the game. The Bulldogs had only seven.

"We didn't make smart passes," Elliott said. "A lot of those (turnovers) were unforced errors. They were lazy passes that missed the mark. We did a poor job meeting passes. It's been a struggle all season."

Cameron Chestnut led the Eagles with 11 points and Corey Stanton contributed eight off the bench. South Putnam's Derek Dean had a game-high nine rebounds.

The Eagles play Tri-West at home tonight..

At Monrovia

South Putnam 8 8 9 11 -- 36

Monrovia 26 10 17 21 -- 74

South Putnam 36

Varvel 0 1-2 1, Dean 2 0-0 4, Masters 1 1-5 3, Welty 0 2-2 2, Chestnut 4 2-2 11, Stanton 4 0-0 8, Gibson 3 0-0 7, Totals 14 6-11 36..

Monrovia 74

Watson 5 2-2 13, Johnson 0 3-4 3, Gray 3 3-3 11, Connor 5 4-4 17, McCleerey 2 0-0 5, McIntosh 1 0-0 2, Sowers 2 0-0 4, Porter 1 0-1 2, Michel 1 0-0 3, Benefiel 2 0-0 6, Totals 24 16-19 74.

3-point field goals -- SP-Chestnut 1, Gibson 1; M-Connor 3, Gray 2, Benefiel 2, Watson 1, McCleerey 1, Michel 1.

Next game -- South Putnam plays Tri-West at home tonight.