Mustangs buck South Putnam

Saturday, February 24, 2007
South Putnam's Conor Frame attempts to drive by an Edgewood defender during the Eagles' 76-35 loss to the Mustangs Friday.

ELLETTSVILLE -- South Putnam traveled to Edgewood Friday night in hopes of using the game as a learning experience heading into sectional action next week. Despite losing 76-35, coach Brian Gardner thought his kids did the job they needed to do.

"We looked at this tonight as trying to get ourselves better in what we needed to do in our sectional," coach Brian Gardner said after the contest.

The night for the Eagles could be summed up with one stat. The leading scorers for South Putnam, Adam Masters and Adam Nees, combined for 15 points. The top scorers for Edgewood were Scott Pederson and Garrett Butcher, who combined for 35 points.

The night started badly for the Eagles as they saw the Mustangs jump out to a 9-0 lead and continue to build on it. South put four points up quick with Nees and Masters scoring on jumpers but Edgewood pounded inside and built a 17-6 lead after one.

Ben Anderson got things started for the Eagles by scoring the opening points of the second quarter. Derek Tomaw followed that up with a jumper of his own but not before the Mustang's Butcher scored six straight points to blow the lead up to 23-10.

South got points from Anderson and Nees as well as Noah Boswell and Ben Parker but still watched as Edgewood's lead ballooned to 36-18. Conor Frame closed the second quarter with a basket on the inside to bring to score to 36-20 going into the half.

The second half saw the Eagles start to settle down and recognize what they needed to do.

"I thought we did a lot of good things tonight on the defensive end," Gardner said.

After South began to address the press, they began to become more fluid and make the Mustangs work for what they got. South managed to only score two buckets in the third quarter. All of South's third quarter points came from Masters and Nees who scored 7 points.

On the other hand, Edgewood scored 25 points, with 14 of those coming from Pederson, who scored from all over the floor. After the third quarter ended, Edgewood held a 63-27 advantage as the chants from the crowd became deafening.

In the fourth quarter, Boswell opened the scoring with a two and a free throw. Brad Eickhoff gave the Eagles crowd something to cheer about when he drained a three-pointer with 5:20 remaining.

But the night belonged to the Mustangs. They outscored South 9-2 as the game ended and concluded their perfect regular season of 20-0.

"We just played a really great team tonight," Gardner said.

"The three games we knew would be our toughest are over and now we're excited about sectionals."

Edgewood won the junior varsity game, 52-35.

South will be in sectional action next Friday at 6 p.m.

At Edgewood

Edgewood 76 South Putnam 35

Edgewood (76) -- Weakley 5, Walton 9, Lowers 7, Butcher 18, Pederson 17, Barger 13, Walcott 2, Thornton 3, Baugh 2. Totals: FG 24-55 FT 19-26 TP 76.

South Putnam (35) -- Anderson 6, Nees 8, Boswell 5, Masters 7, Parker 2, Tomaw 2, Eickhoff 3, Frame 2. Totals: FG 13-35 FT 8-12 TP 35.

3pt. FG -- Edgewood 4 (Barger 2, Weakey, Thornton), South Putnam 1 (Eickhoff)

Junior Varsity -- Edgewood won, 52-35.

Next game -- South will be in sectional action next Friday at 6 p.m.

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