Eagles' slide continues with loss to No. 2 Rox

Saturday, December 17, 2011
South Putnam's Seth Hammond goes around Rockville's Lane Mahurin during Friday's contest.

ROCKVILLE -- South Putnam tangled with Class A second-ranked Rockville Friday in a rough and tumble contest that saw its fair share of hard fouls and neglected calls. The Rox leaned heavily on 6'7" junior forward Lane Mahurin and came away with a 57-38 victory of the Eagles.

South Putnam struggled from the opening tip, falling behind 19-4 after the first quarter and 33-13 by halftime. The Eagles seemed out of sync against the aggressive Rockville defense and had trouble keeping up with the Rockville quick offense.

The Eagles were cited for 12 first half fouls, which resulted in 11 points for Rockville from the line. Sketchy calls permeated the first half and didn't let up in as the second half got underway.

Sawyer Arnold puts up two of his 11 points on the night.

South Putnam head coach Troy Burgess spoke about the game's officiating following the contest.

"What's difficult is when there's no consistency," Burgess said. "And I'll say that for both teams. You've got to call a game constant. A hand check is a hand check. It's either a foul or it's not. If it's not, then that's OK, both teams can adjust to that. If it is, OK, both teams can adjust, but you have to call the game consistently.

"Maybe Rockville did a better job adjusting to the lack of consistency than what we did," he added.

South Putnam's struggles from the field continued to start the second half as they were outscored 13-4 in the quarter and entered the fourth quarter staring a 46-17 deficit in the face.

In a game that already saw too many rough play calls let pass, things got really heated in the beginning of the fourth quarter. Following a non-call foul, as the Rox were on offense, with the teams in transition, a speeding Rob Gibson was stopped in his tracks by a stiff shoulder from Mahurin that brought yells from the South Putnam fans.

After a brief stoppage in play as Gibson collected himself, both team began to insert players from their bench and that's when the Eagles caught fire.

Sawyer Arnold and Trey Moore, both starters who spent much of the evening on the bench in foul trouble, teamed up to score all of South Putnam's 21 fourth quarter points. Arnold scored 11, while Moore added 10 in the final frame.

Burgess liked what he saw out of Arnold and Moore in the fourth, but he emphasized they need to be part of the game throughout.

"It's great -- they're good kids," Burgess said. "Trey and Sawyer -- that's our two best offensive players, but when they spend the first half on the bench because they're in foul trouble -- you can't point to a lot of things. I thought there were some very bad calls, but I also thought there were times when we don't move our feet defensively, we reach and we commit silly fouls. We're limited in what we can do right now offensively and when our two best offensive guys get in foul trouble, now we're in trouble.

"Yeah, when we can have Trey and Sawyer on the floor, it's nice and gives up a little one-two punch there. It gives us some scoring opportunities. It's hard to score from the bench," he added.

The Eagles outscored Rockville 21-11 in the fourth quarter, but weren't able to overcome the Rox, falling 57-38. Despite the loss, Burgess was happy with the effort of the team that was on the court as the horn sounded.

"I was proud of the kids that were on the floor at the end. I thought they played hard. They were trying to do the things we wanted them to do. And I was proud of their effort," Burgess said.

South Putnam will next be in action when it hosts the Eagles Holiday Classic Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m.

At Rockville

South Putnam 4 9 4 21 -- 38

Rockville 19 14 13 11 -- 57

Individual Stats

South Putnam -- Moore 12, Arnold 11, Hammond 8, Gibson 3, Kelly 2, Chestnut 2. Totals: 12-32 FG, 9-21 FT, 38 TP.

Rockville -- Mahurin 21, Ulrich 17, McFall 7, Wittenmyer 4, Wake 4, Jeffries 4, No. 2 1. Totals: 18-34 FG, 14-20 FT, 57 TP.