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Warriors too much for Eagles
GREENCASTLE -- When a team shoots close to 50 percent from the floor, as well as from behind the arc, it proves to be a difficult task to overcome. Covenant Christian shot the lights on in the fourth game of the South Putnam Class 2A Sectional Wednesday to defeat the host Eagles 82-47.
From the opening tip, the Warriors attacked the Eagles and never let up. They built a huge first-quarter lead of 28-7 and extended it to 51-22 at the half.
While the Eagles struggled to find the twine, the Warriors shot 60 percent from the floor, including 7-of-15 from three-point territory. Max Mollaun and Drew Ferguson combined for a 6-of-10 three-point shooting display in the first half.
An obviously frustrated South Putnam head coach Micah Elliott spoke about the Warriors' performance and his team's inability to stop them.
"I think they're a good team," Elliott said. "They're very well coached, they have a lot of good players and they knocked down a lot of shots. We didn't defend as well... we didn't defend well at all... we just didn't defend. (We were) leaving guys wide open. The guy knocked down six or seven shots and we don't know who has him."
Cameron Chestnut led the South Putnam charge with seven, with teammates Adam Masters and Dean Varvel chipping in six each.
Holding a 29-point half time lead, Covenant Christian was now where ready to let of the gas to begin the second half.
They came out and poured in 25 points in the third and took a 44-point advantage into the final quarter of play, with South Putnam still trying to find its way.
The fourth quarter went in favor the Eagles to the tune of 15-6, but the Warriors went on to enjoy an 82-47 victory. They'll face Speedway Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Following the game, Elliott turned his attention to next season and what the team will need to do to turn the corner and begin to rack up some wins.
"It comes down to commitment," he said. "We have to have guys that will commit and want to get turn the corner. Come in on their own, work on their game during the spring on their own, and get here in the summer the times that we have scheduled -- put the hours into it. We're going to have to basically commit.
"We need a group of committed guys and if we get one, get two or get three or eight, we will have committed people and it's the only way we're going to get this turned around. If we work on our game, work on the skills and work on the understanding of basketball -- play a lot. Get in and just play and figure some things out," Elliott concluded.
Chestnut and Varvel led South Putnam with 11 points each, followed by Masters with eight, Rob Gibson with six and Brayden Freeman with five. Cory Stanton, Sam Geier and Seth Hammond added two points each.
The Eagles bid farewell to seniors Masters, Chestnut, Geier and Nathan Welty.
South Putnam ends the season with a record of 3-17 overall and 0-6 in West Central Conference play.
At South Putnam
Class 2A No. 46 Sectional
CC 28 23 25 6 -- 82
South Putnam 7 15 10 15 -- 47
Individual Stats
Covenant Christian (82) -- Mollaun 26, Woodruff 11, Ferguson 10, Ray 9, McClintic 8, Cleavenger 6, Johnson 4, Beasley 3, Greg 3, Byers 2. Totals: 29-60 FG, 10-15 FT, 82 TP.
South Putnam (47) -- Chestnut 11, Varvel 11, Masters 8, Gibson 6, Freeman 5, Stanton 2, Geier 2, Hammond 2. Totals: 19-50 FG, 6-7 FT, 47 TP.