Eagles drop close one to Panthers

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

MECCA – Despite playing without leading scorer Allen Plunkett for more than half of the game due to foul trouble, South Putnam put forth a tenacious fourth-quarter comeback effort that fell just short in dropping its regular-season finale 51-47 at Riverton Parke on Tuesday night.

Plunkett was whistled for two fouls in the first five minutes of the game, which kept him out the rest of the half, then for his third early in the third period that again sent him to the bench to avoid further foul trouble.

The evenly-played game saw the margin never get more than six points in either direction, and the hectic fourth quarter treated large and vocal crowds on both sides of the gym to a thrilling finish.

Riverton Parke led 37-32 after three quarters, getting a 3-pointer from reserve Justin Steinway with 44 seconds left in the period.

Lane Watson opened the fourth period with a trey to cut the gap to two, and the teams each added two points before one of the key sequences of the game took place. The Panthers shot airball 3-pointers on their next two possessions, but Caleb Dickey grabbed the rebound both times and scored on putbacks to keep his team in front at 43-39 with 4:50 left.

A Schnepp basket and a Plunkett free throw cut the gap to one point, and the Panthers edged their lead back to three at 47-44 on a pair of Dickey free throws with 1:57 left.

The Eagles missed a one-and-one attempt, but Dalton Scott came up with a steal and converted a fast-break layup with 1:25 left to cut the gap to 47-46. The Eagles fouled Steinway, who hit one free throw with 1:03 left to put his team ahead 48-46.

Fanning added a free throw with 5:35 to cut the lead back to one, but the Eagles could get no closer.

Their full-court trapping and pressing defense forced several turnovers, and their ability to foul the correct player led to many missed free throw attempts by the Panthers.

Still, though, they came up short.

Two missed shots in the final 49 seconds kept the Eagles from regaining the lead, and the Panthers hit three free throws in the final 13.4 seconds to sew up their Senior Night victory.

“Late in the third quarter we called timeout and told them that we’re doing a lot of things right, but there’s one thing we’re not doing right,” South Putnam coach Greg Dean said. “That was finishing possessions or getting rebounds. We forced them to play a little bit faster than they wanted to, and we forced them into some quick threes.

“They were able to come up with key rebounds and turn those into baskets,” Dean added. “When you give teams that have kids like Dickey who go to the boards so well and give them second chances.”

Despite coming up a few points short, Dean could not fault the effort of his team.

“Our kids battled and played hard,” he said. “We have to work harder to stay out of foul trouble, and we have to have people out on the floor that we need out on the floor. We can work on that, moving our feet and not reaching in, as we go into the sectional.”

The game was played under conditions similar to the upcoming sectional tournament, and Dean thinks that could help his squad in the sectional the Eagles will host in a couple of weeks.

“Senior Night at Riverton Parke I guess is a pretty big thing,” he said. “They had a good crowd and we had a good crowd. Our crowd traveled well and was boisterous and loud. It was a good atmosphere.”

Dickey started off the game with the hot hand, hitting two 3-pointers and a basket in the first four minutes to help his team to a 13-8 lead. Andrew Gregg had the other five points in that stretch.

The Eagles climbed back into the game with six straight points on a Thomas Fanning basket, a free throw from both Plunkett and Scott and a Steven Schnepp basket for a 14-13 lead with 1:26 left in the first quarter.

A Christian Zeffel basket with 27 seconds left in the quarter put the Eagles up 16-15 before a Jonathon Virostko trey gave the Panthers a 2-point lead at the first stop.

Only 15 points were scored in the second quarter between the teams, with six of those coming from long range as Scott hit a pair of treys. Wes Lesko added a basket and two free throws as the Eagles led 26-23 at intermission.

Only seven baskets were made in the third period, six of those from 3-point range, as the Panthers established their 5-point lead entering the final period.

Dickey led all scorers with 16 points while battling foul problems of his own, while Gregg added 12 for the winners.

Scott led South Putnam with 15 points, while Plunkett added eight points, hitting 1 of 2 from the field and 6 of 8 from the line.

The 6-16 Eagles are now idle until March 3, then they will meet the winner of a first-round game between Cascade and Monrovia. Riverton Parke improved to 11-11.

SOUTH PUTNAM (47) – Plunkett 1-2 6-8 8, Fanning 1-4 3-4 5, Scott 6-14 1-4 15, Schnepp 3-7 0-0 7, Watson 2-2 0-0 6, Zeffel 1-1 0-0 2, Gregory 0-0 0-0 0, Lesko 1-4 2-3 4, Arnold 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-34 FG, 12-19 FT, 47 TP

RIVERTON PARKE (51) – Dickey 6-10 2-2 16, Briddick 1-3 0-0 2, Gregg 4-10 2-3 12, Sanders 1-4 0-0 3, Virostko 2-7 2-2 7, Shoemaker 0-1 0-0 0, Kirchoff 0-2 0-0 0, Steelsmith 1-1 0-0 3, Wilson 2-3 0-0 4, Steinway 1-2 1-4 4. Totals 18-43 FG, 7-11 FT, 51 TP

South Putnam 16 10 6 15 – 47

Riverton Parke 18 5 14 14 – 51

3-point shooting – RP 8-20 (Dickey 2-3, Gregg 2-6, Sanders 1-3, Virostko 1-5, Steelsmith 1-1, Steinway 1-2), SP 5-8 (Scott 2-3, Schnepp 1-2, Watson 2-2, Fanning 0-1). Turnovers – RP 12, SP 11.

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