Stifling defense carries Cougars past Warriors

ROACHDALE -- On Monday the North Putnam Cougars were looking to do something that they had not accomplished since the 2006-07 season. They succeeded and got to double-digit wins on the season defeating the Turkey Run Warriors, 46-34.

The Cougars (10-9, 3-2 WCC) got out to a slow start in the first quarter, trailing the Warriors (2-17, 0-7 WRC) 3-0 early. The Cougars then scored nine straight to lead 9-3 and looked like they had all the momentum before Turkey Run drained two threes to end the quarter in a tie.

In the middle quarters the North Putnam outscored the Warriors 20-11. The Cougars did not to score many points but they did not need to.

Instead, they relied on their defense, stifling and confusing the Warriors to the point they only made four baskets in 16 minutes.

The Warriors trimmed the Cougar lead to 19-14 at the half with a three-quarter court shot, but it was to no avail as they never gained much momentum in the second half.

"That is an unbelievable defensive effort to give up 14 points in one half, North Putnam Coach Lukas Haworth said. "What an incredible defensive effort to come out and shut a team down, I cannot ask any more of the boys on the defensive end than what they did tonight. I am very proud of that effort."

The fourth quarter was odd in terms of scoring for NPHS as they went 1-for-3 shooting from the field in the quarter while knocking down 16-of-23 free throws; an uncharacteristically low percentage.

Finally facing a smaller lineup than their own, the Cougars outrebounded the Warriors 28-21 on the evening.

"I was extremely happy with our ability to rebound. That was one of our Achilles heels this past weekend. We were able to come back strong without any practice time," Haworth said.

The Warriors shot 30 percent on the night, knocking down six threes out of 11 attempts but only hitting 6-of-29 shots from inside the perimeter.

"We knew they had a couple kids that could shoot and we did a good job on those guys," Haworth said. "They also had a couple that sometimes hit and sometimes do not. Whenever you play teams as athletic as Turkey Run was you have to pick your poison a little bit. The one thing that we did not want to happen was to let wide-open drives. The ability to be there when the drive happens was probably the best we have had in a long time."

At North Putnam
Turkey Run 9 5 6 14 -- 34
North Putnam 9 10 10 17 -- 46
Turkey Run (34): Ashley 4-13 0-0 10, Hunt 3-4 1-2 9, Jones 2-5 0-0 6, Amstutz 0-4 2-4 2, D. Ferguson 1-1 0-0 2, J. Ferguson 1-4 0-0 2, Nevins 1-2 0-0 2, Russell 0-1 1-2 1, Budd 0-2 0-2 0, Davis 0-4 0-0 0. Total: 12-40 (6-11) 4-10, 34.
North Putnam (46): Beaman 3-7 5-8 13, Hazelgrove 2-8 8-8 12, Nauert 3-7 0-1 7, Roberts 2-5 2-2 6, Green 2-3 0-0 4, Riggen 1-2 1-3 3, Hall 0-1 0-0 0. Total: 13-33 (3-11) 17-24, 46.
Rebounds (offensive)
TR (21-4): Davis 8-2, Jones 3-0, Budd 2-1, Russell 2-1, Ashley 2-0, Amstutz 1-0, D. Ferguson 1-0, J. Ferguson 1-0, Hunt 1-0.
NP (28-6): Roberts 9-1, Hazelgrove 8-2, Hall 4-1, Beaman 3-0, Nauert 2-2, Green 1-0, Riggen 1-0.
Turnovers: TR 7, NP 8. Fouls: TR 18, NP 10.
Assists (3): Beaman, Green, Riggen. Steals (3): Beaman, Green, Nauert. Blocks (8): Nauert 6, Beaman, Hazelgrove.