NPHS boys get close road win

MARSHALL--Turkey Run's last second lob play for senior Austin Jones was thrown too far and his shot hit the bottom of the backboard, and the North Putnam boys' basketball team came away with a 37-36 win.

"We had it covered about how we wanted it," Cougars head coach Collin McCartt said. "We figured there might be a possibility of a back screen there. They were able to catch it and I think that kind of threw us off. We were pretty fortunate."

The Warriors (2-8 1-1 WRC) controlled much of the first half by using the baseline and tallying five assists to take a halftime lead of 22-20. The Cougars (3-7 0-1 WCC) struggled with eight turnovers and 8 of 22 shooting.

"They (Turkey Run) move the ball well," McCartt said. "They're all guards. They do a great job making sure there was no post so they could job. Their coach does a really good job with those guys."

North Putnam could only hit two field goals in the third quarter, but their defense starting clamping down on Turkey Run. They held them to eight points in the quarter on no assists and four came from free throws.

After being down seven in the final quarter the Cougars had clutch play from senior Michael Roberts, junior Austin Judy and sophomore Jordan Bean.

"We got down seven in the fourth and our guys hit some shots to get back into it," McCartt said. "We made enough plays to pull it out."

Judy went to the free throw line with 5:13 left in the game and made the front end before missing the second, only to be rebounded by his own team. The ball was kicked back to Judy on the right side where he buried one of his three threes in the second half to cut the lead to three, 32-29.

Judy's heroics continued only seconds later when North Putnam recovered a turnover and Judy hit another three to tie the game.

Down again by two this time Judy missed a contested layup long, but Bean, air-bound, grabbed the most important of his 15 rebounds on the night and laid it in all in one motion with 1:42 left. He finished two points shy of a double-double.

"I asked the guys to do three things before the game that would help us win," McCartt said, "I asked Jordan to do one thing and that was to get at least eight rebounds. He was able to do his job."

Roberts did his part by knocking down two free throws after an unnecessary foul by Warrior Tyler Davis to give the Cougars the lead they would never look back on.

"It was nice to see that we had perseverance," McCartt said. "We easily could've put our heads down. We didn't. I thought Michael did a great job trying to keep everybody up. The leadership was great tonight. We needed a night like this where we really had to gut one out."

Freshman Treyton Smith would knock in one more free throw for the Cougars to give them a three-point lead.

Instead of shooting a three, the Warriors went for a quick two and Jones converted with a 10-feet jumper.

Turkey Run fouled Roberts on the ensuing Cougar possession and only in the one-and-one bonus, Roberts missed the front end and gave the Warriors enough time to call a timeout with two seconds remaining.

Down one, Turkey Run drew the lob play up for Jones, which nearly worked, but the pass was too long.

North Putnam survived a tough one and Coach McCartt said his team did not play well at all, but they expressed great joy when they heard of the statistic totals for Bean.

"He did great things," McCartt said. "He is very valuable and he really helped us tonight. We're all proud of him."

At Turkey Run

North Putnam 14 6 5 12--37

Turkey Run 12 10 8 6--36

Scoring

North Putnam: A. Judy 10, Bean 8, Jeter 7, Smith 7, Roberts 4, Hall 1, C. Judy 0, Porter 0.

Turkey Run: Davis 9, D. Ferguson 8, Jones 7, N. Ferguson 6, England 3, J. Ferguson 3, Hunt 0, Mitchell 0, Munoz 0.

Rebounding

North Putnam: Bean 15, Roberts 6, Jeter 4, A. Judy 4, C. Judy 1, Smith 1.

Turkey Run: Davis 11, D. Ferguson 5, Hunt 4, J. Ferguson 3, Munoz 3, Mitchell 1.