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Eagles lose to Eels, 63-57
The South Putnam boys' basketball team struggled defensively at home Tuesday night. The Eagles fell to the Eminence Eels 63-57 in a non-conference game. South fell to 3-16 on the season, while Eminence improved to 5-15.
"We just didn't get enough stops tonight. They scored on over half of their possessions," South Putnam head coach Greg Dean said.
The two teams battled throughout the first quarter, alternating buckets, with the Eels leading 17-15 at the end of the period.
Bo Mehringer scored nine of his team-high 20 points for Eminence in period.
South tried to take the game over in the second quarter. The Eagles picked up the defensive intensity in the quarter and held the Eels to just 2-of-11 shooting in the stanza. South outscored the Eels 16-9 in the quarter giving them a 31-26 halftime lead.
"We came out a little bit flat tonight. I thought we did a better job in the second quarter, we held them to just nine points," Dean said.
Eminence battled back in the third quarter. The Eels hit 7-of-11 shots from the field en route to a taking the lead on a Mehringer three-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter, 41-38. The Eagles struggled offensively in the period hitting just 3-of-11 shots and turning the ball over five times.
"We came out in the second half and Eminence got a lot of rebounds. We gave them second and third chances. We only forced six turnovers on the game and turned it over 18 times, that's tough," Dean said.
The two teams played evenly throughout the early part of the fourth quarter. South kept in the game behind Allen Plunkett who scored 11 of his game-high 30 points in the period. The Eagles couldn't stop the Eels from getting to the free throw line in the period. Eminence made South Putnam pay for it by shooting 8-of-11 from the line in the quarter and 15-of-21 for the game. The Eagles went to the line just seven times, making five, for the game.
"We didn't get to the foul line enough. We went inside early and didn't get rewarded and we kind of quit trying to go inside," Dean said.
The Eels placed three players in double figures led by Mehringer's 20 points. Shawn Michaelis scored 18 points and Koty Martin added 16 for Eminence.
Plunkett led the way for South Putnam with 30 points and Jimmy Rutter added eight for the Eagles.
South will host Owen Valley on Friday night.
At South Putnam
Eminence 17 9 15 22 -- 63
South Putnam 15 16 7 19 -- 57
Eagle Scoring 23-49 5-7 57 (Fanning 1-2 1-2 2 3, Stewart 1-9 0-0 5 3, Scott 1-1 0-0 1 2, Rutter 4-9 0-0 0 8, Plunkett 11-20 3-4 2 30, Long 2-3 1-1 1 5, McHugh 0-1 0-0 5 0, Grundlock 1-2 0-0 2 2, Parks 2-2 0-0 1 4)
3-point shots 6-16 (Plunkett 5-7, Stewart 1-7, Scott 0-1, Fanning 0-1) Reb 30 (Fanning 2, Stewart 1, Scott 3, Rutter 6, Plunkett 9, Long 1, McHugh 4, Grundlock 1, Parks 1, Team 3)
Eel Scoring 22-46 15-21 63 (Martin 3-7 9-13 2 16, Mehringer 8-19 2-3 2 20, Michaelis 8-10 2-3 5 18, Mayer 1-1 0-0 2 2, Muse 2-4 2-2 0 7, Glidden 0-0 0-0 0 0, Smile 0-4 0-0 0 0, Lacy 0-1 0-0 0 0)
3-point shots 4-12 (Mehringer 2-8, Martin 1-1, Muse 1-2, Smile 0-2, Lacy 0-1) Reb 32 (Martin 7, Mehringer 8, Michaelis 4, Mayer 4, Muse 2, Smile 3, Lacy 1, Team 7)