Cougars 'out-worked' in 29-point loss

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

SPEEDWAY -- When J.T. Francies hit the opening shot of the second quarter Tuesday night, it looked like the Cougars could get back into their contest with Speedway. The bucket brought the Cougars to within seven at 19-12, after having trailed by as many as 12 points in the first.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, that would be the last scoring they did before the half, as the Sparkplugs used a 17-0 run to close the first half and blow the game wide open.

The Cougars fell to the Sparkplugs 60-31.

Cougar sophomore Brock Jones shoots over Speedway's Keenan Lewis in Tuesday's contest.

"We've just been victims of one quarter every game where things just go south," North coach Wes Peek said. "In the second quarter we had two points. Against anybody, if you go through those lulls, you dig yourself a hole."

The Cougars (1-12, 0-5 WCC) did manage to give the game one bright spot by outscoring the Sparkplugs 13-12 in the third quarter. Peek said the difference in the third quarter was a matter of effort.

"In the first half they beat us to every loose ball. They beat us to rebounds. They played harder than we did in the first half," Peek said. "All we talked about with our kids at halftime was, 'We gotta play harder.' We were getting outworked by a team that shouldn't outwork us. They might have better athletes, they might have kids that are a little bit stronger than we are, but we're gonna outwork them.

"In the third quarter we did a better job of playing much harder with a lot more attention to detail," Peek continued.

Griffen Dahlstrom led the Cougars with 13 points.

The Sparkplugs were without leading scorer Kyle Linville, they got some good contributions in his absence. Michael Hubbard (19), Keenan Lewis (13) and Prentess Prior (12) all scored in double figures.

Peek said his team knew what Linville could have done, but was surprised with the output they saw on Tuesday.

The Cougars host South Putnam for their WCC finale at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

At Speedway

North Putnam 10 2 13 6 -- 31

Speedway 19 17 12 12 -- 60

North Putnam (1-12, 0-5 WCC) -- Dahlstrom 5-8 3-5 13, Francies 3-7 0-0 6, Adams 2-2 1-2 5, Jones 1-4 2-2 4, Ban 1-4 1-1 3, Hadley 0-2 0-0 0, Alcorn 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 12-30 FG, 7-10 FT, 31 points.

Speedway (3-12, 3-2 WCC) -- Hubbard 7-17 1-3 19, Lewis 6-10 0-0 13, Prior 5-12 1-2 12, Daghe 2-4 0-0 5, Jackson 1-2 0-0 3, Duman 1-2 0-0 2, Eggert 1-2 0-2 2, No. 54 0-1 2-2 2, Avance 0-1 0-0 0, Fath 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-52 FG, 4-9 FT, 61 points.

Next game -- North Putnam hosts South Putnam at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

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