Edgewood spoils Hill's 1,000-point milestone in win over South Putnam

The Edgewood Mustangs came into the Eagle’s Nest at South Putnam on Saturday night for a boys’ high school basketball game and used a 23-0 run bridging the first and second quarters to cruise to a 64-40 victory in a Western Indiana Conference contest.

Edgewood turned a 12-8 deficit into a 31-12 advantage to pick up the victory. The Eagles broke the run with a special basket as Drew Hill nailed a three-pointer that put him over the 1,000-point mark for his career and the game was paused for the presentation.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 4-8 on the season and 1-6 in the WIC, while Edgewood improved to 7-7 and 4-2 in conference action.

Edgewood’s physicality and defensive pressure forced the Eagles into errors and did not allow them to get much offensive production in the final 28 minutes of the game.

“(Edgewood) is a pretty good basketball team. They are big, physical and run the floor. They really got after us on defense. They outplayed us on both sides of the ball tonight. I tip my cap to Coach Wadsworth and Edgewood,” South Putnam head coach Josh Estridge said.

The first four minutes of the game were not indicative of the final score. The Eagles came out and scored the first five points as Cameron Bozell nailed a three-pointer and Hill followed with a jumper.

The Eagles maintained a 12-8 advantage as Bozell scored his eighth point of the quarter on a jumper with 3:17 left in the period.

Hill unfortunately had a pair of early personal fouls and went to the bench and the Mustangs started their big run, scoring the last seven points of the quarter, including a buzzer-beating layup by Mialin White, to give Edgewood a 15-12 lead heading into the second quarter.

“I thought our first quarter was really, really good. Obviously, they went on a run late, but everything we did in the first quarter was what the game plan was, and it was working,” Estridge said.

The Mustangs amped up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, forcing the Eagles into eight turnovers in the period, and finished the run with a 31-12 lead before Hill drained the shot that put the senior over the 1,000-point mark.

Wyatt Mullin nailed another trey to cut the gap to 31-18 before Edgewood scored the final basket of the half to post a 33-18 lead going into the break.

The defensive pressure by the Mustangs translated into offense in the third quarter. Edgewood hit 10-of-14 shots in the period and converted from deep with two from behind the arc while continuously getting to the rim and finishing.

The Eagles’ Mullin tried to keep South in the game with five points in the quarter, but the balanced Mustangs had seven players score in the period and boosted the lead to 56-28 heading into the fourth quarter.

“We let a couple of mistakes turn into multiple mistakes and (Edgewood) took advantage of that,” Estridge said.

The Eagles were able to outscore the Mustangs in the final stanza, but it was too little, too late as Edgewood was able to finalize the margin at 64-40 and send the Eagles home with the loss.

The Mustangs were led in scoring by White with 15 points. Caden Jones came off the bench with 11 and Jacob Boggs chipped in with 10 points. The Eagles were led by Hill with 13. Bozell added 11 and Mullin 10 for the Eagles.

“I am really happy for Drew as it has been tough for him to have four coaches in four years. He has put a lot of work in. His attitude, effort and leadership has been really fantastic this year. I am really proud of him,” Estridge said.

The Eagles will try and improve on their record next Friday as they host Northview in another WIC battle.

EDGEWOOD (64) – Huttenlocker 1-5 2-2 5, Boggs 5-7 0-0 10, White 7-10 1-1 15, Norris 1-4 0-1 2, Ranard 2-5 2-2 6, Reynolds 3-5 0-0 7, Jones 3-8 2-3 11, McGovern 2-4 0-0 4, Roberts 0-0 0-0 0, Hayden 0-3 4-4 4, Dodds 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 FG, 11-13 FT, 64 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (40) – Mullin 4-10 1-1 10, Witt 1-2 0-2 2, Hill 5-14 1-2 13, Bozell 4-10 0-0 11, Harris 2-5 0-0 4, Garner 0-3 0-0 0, Jefferson 0-5 0-0 0, Cline 0-2 0-0 0, Benton 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-53 FG, 2-5 FT, 40 TP.

3-point shooting – EHS 5-18 (Huttenlocker 1-4, Boggs 0-1, White 0-1, Norris 0-2, Reynolds 1-2, Jones 3-8), SP 6-23 (Mullin 1-5, Hill 2-7, Bozell 3-9, Garner 0-2, Benton 0-1). Rebounds – EHS 36 (Huttenlocker 2, Dodds 1, Boggs 8, Hayden 1, White 10, Norris 1, Ranard 2, Reynolds 2, Jones 3, McGovern 3) SP – 29 (Mullin 3, Witt 6, Hill 5, Harris 1, Benton 1, Jefferson 7, Cline 2) FG Pct. – EHS 46.2, SP 30.2. FT Pct. – EHS 84.6, SP 40.0. Turnovers – EHS 12, SP 18.