Eagles get back on winning track with 44-37 victory

Monday, February 20, 2017

The South Putnam Eagles fought back from an ice cold first half and used a 14-0 run to start the second half as they defeated the North Vermillion Falcons 44-37 in high school basketball action Saturday night.

The Eagles hit 8-of-10 shots in the third quarter, including five from behind the three-point arc to improve their record to 6-15 on the season.

“That was the kind of half that we wanted to start the game with,” South Putnam head coach Greg Dean said. “We wanted to speed them up. We are getting better with our wings on the trap.”

The first quarter saw both teams struggle to put points on the board. Dalton Scott hit a jumper with 3:52 left in the period to cut the North Vermillion lead to 7-6. No one would score again in the quarter. The Falcons had their chances as they pounded the offensive glass and got 17 shots from the floor, but only managed to hit three of them. South only took six shots in the period.

North Vermillion began to find the range in the second quarter, but the Eagles still had issues offensively. The Falcons outscored the South 15-4 in the period. The Eagles didn’t hit a field goal, with only three attempts. They scored all their points from the line.

The Falcons converted some Eagle turnovers as Trevor Eppert scored seven of his team-high 12 points in the period. The Eagle offense was stunted by foul trouble as the Eagles leading scorer, Allen Plunkett sat the entire second period. Scott also went to the bench early in the quarter with two fouls as well. North went to the break with a 22-10 lead over the host Eagles.

“We did OK defensively in the first half, we just couldn’t score,” Dean said. “We got into foul trouble with Allen and Dalton and that took away a lot of firepower. We struggled to get shots.”

The defensive pressure that South was applying began to pay dividends in the second half. The Eagles scored the first 14 points of the quarter. Plunkett scored 10 straight to open the period. The sophomore began to attract a lot of attention from the Falcon defense. That left other Eagles with opportunities, and they began to cash in on those chances. Scott had a couple of layups and Thomas Fanning hit two from downtown and a layup.

“I thought the kids did a good job of executing. We got some good looks off of our pressure. We got points off turnovers,” Dean said.

The Eagles put 22 points on the board in the quarter and headed into the final stanza with a 32-27 lead. The Eagles hit 8-of-10 shots in the period. They forced the Falcons into six turnovers and even with two timeouts, North was not able to slow down the Eagle run.

South kept its composure in the fourth quarter. The Falcons turned up the pressure, but the Eagles didn’t turn the ball over and mostly took good shots. South hit 4-of-8 from the floor with three of those field goals layups.

Scott scored five of his 11 points in the period and the Eagles took care of the basketball. South only had four turnovers in the second half and forced North into 11 with the half-court trap.

“We kind of wore them down. It was a good half,” Dean said. “We did some different stuff. We are still kind of finding things we do well. With a young team, you continue to grow.”

The Falcons’ Eppert was the only North Vermillion player in double figures with 12. The Eagles were led by Plunkett with 16 points, Fanning had 12 and Scott 11 for South.

“It was nice to get three players in double figures. We executed well. We had to make adjustments after they began to trap Allen. I thought Thomas and Dalton, in particular, did some good things,” Dean said.

The Eagles will wrap up their regular season on Tuesday as they travel to Riverton Parke.

NORTH VERMILLION (37) – Ellis 2-7 0-0 6, Taylor 3-8 0-0 6, Ky. Stephens 1-4 0-0 3, Eppert 5-12 0-0 12, Buchhaas 3-9 1-2 7, Certain 0-0 3-4 3, Woodard 0-1 0-0 0, Naylor 0-0 0-0 0, Ky. Stephens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-41 FG, 4-6 FT, 37 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (45) – Schnepp 1-1 2-2 4, Fanning 3-5 4-4 12, Watson 0-3 0-2 0, Plunkett 6-11 1-2 16, Scott 5-7 1-3 11, Zeffel 0-0 1-2 1, Lesko 0-0 0-0 0, Gregory 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-27 FG, 9-15 FT, 44 TP.

North Vermillion 7 15 5 10 – 37

South Putnam 6 4 22 12 – 44

3-point shooting – NV 5-16 (Ellis 2-5, Taylor 0-5, Ky. Stephens 1-3, Eppert 2-3), SP 5-10 (Fanning 2-2, Watson 0-2, Plunkett 3-6). Rebounds – NV 24 (Ellis 2, Taylor 3, Ky. Stephens 3, Eppert 7, Buchhaas 4, Certain 3, Woodard 1) SP 21 (Schnepp 5, Watson 2, Plunkett 5, Scott 2, Zeffel 3, Lesko 1, Gregory 1) FG Pct. – NV 34.1, SP 55.6. FT Pct. – NV 66.7, SP 60.0. Turnovers – NV 16, SP 13.

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