Fountain Central hurts North Putnam with size advantage

ROACHDALE -- The North Putnam Cougars (10-10, 3-2 West Central) welcomed the Fountain Central Mustangs (11-7, 4-3 Wabash River) to Roachdale for the Cougars last regular season game and the Mustangs next to last. The Mustangs got the best of the Cougars 50-39.

Cougar senior Jordan Nauert led the scoring off in the game nailing a 3-pointer but the Mustangs would answer and take the lead on a free throw, 8-7.

From there, FCHS would not look back and they led the rest of the game, resulting in a victory.

"They did a great job of taking away our first option and a lot of times our second option. I will say I thought we took good shots. I felt like we drew their size in and kicked it out for open shots," North Putnam Lukas Haworth said. "Unfortunately the they did not fall."

The Mustangs defense set the tone for the game, forcing tough shots as well as 10 turnovers. The Cougars shot only 14-for-44 including just 15 percent behind the arc.

"I felt like we did the best defense job at recognizing what I wanted them to do," Fountain Central coach Jason Good said. "I felt like they did not get anything out of their ball screens. I was really pleased with how well we defended."

The Mustangs also outrebounded the Cougars by 19, the biggest spread all year for both teams, a testament to the height advantage for the Mustangs.

"That is one thing we do have is size," Good said. "I really thought that we did not pass the ball inside enough. We did have some big rebounds though."

The Mustangs had two players in double digits on the night, junior Ethan Woodrow had 15, along with 13 boards and junior Koby Pierce had 11.

"Our goal was to hold them to 50 or below knowing they could kill us inside and on the boards. To hold them to 50 was a phenomenal job," Haworth said.

NPHS had two seniors in double figures. Ben Hazelgrove had 14, and Nauert had 13.

One dull spot for North Putnam was the inability to score at the free throw line and they shot just 8-for-16.

"That was definitely something that got in the minds of the boys. We had been shooting so well lately from the line, almost 80 percent for the last five games," Haworth said.

Fountain Central hindered by the fact that North Putnam would not let the ball get inside and when it did, Fountain Central could not convert on all the opportunities.

Fountain Central will have to take care of the ball better on Friday night against Southmont because they cannot afford to have 16 turnovers again.

"We need to take better care of the ball. We can not have those panic moments and we had a few tonight. Taking care of the ball and learning to make the next play. We do have some inexperience. I felt like we did take a step forward tonight," Good said.

North Putnam will look toward sectional play with a matchup with county rival South Putnam whom the Cougars have beaten twice this season.

At North Putnam
Fountain Central 13 10 9 18 - 50
North Putnam 11 4 11 13 - 39
Fountain Central (50): Woodrow 5-12 5-6 15, Pierce 4-11 2-2 11, Wallace 3-5 3-4 9, Warner 3-5 0-0 8, Corey 2-6 3-4 7, Simonton 0-3 0-0 0. Total: 17-42 (3-11) 13-18, 50.
North Putnam (39): Hazelgrove 6-13 1-5 14, Nauert 4-9 4-4 13, Beaman 1-7 3-5 5, Roberts 2-6 0-0 4, Hall 1-3 0-0 3, Flynn 0-2 0-0 0, Green 0-1 0-0 0, Riggen 0-3 0-0 0. Total: 14-44 (3-20) 8-16, 39.
Rebounds (offensive)
FC (40-9): Woodrow 13-2, Warner 9-2, Pierce 9-1, Wallace 6-2, Corey 3-2.
NP (21-7): Hazelgrove 4-1, Nauert 4-0, Roberts 3-2, Hall 3-1, Riggen 3-1, Flynn 2-1, Green 1-1, Beaman 1-0.
Turnovers: FC 16, NP 10. Fouls: FC 12, NP 12.
Assists (10): Beaman 4, Nauert 2, Green, Hazelgrove, Riggen, Roberts. Steals (10): Beaman 2, Hazelgrove 2, Nauert 2, Flynn, Hall, Riggen, Roberts.