Cougars win thriller over South Putnam

Saturday, February 7, 2009

For South Putnam, the rally came three-quarters too late.

After struggling for the first three quarters, the Eagles came back and lit up the scoreboard against the visiting Cougars, outscoring them 27-18, but in the end it wasn't enough, as North Putnam handed the Eagles another loss.

"We come out and play well and play hard and I think it's a game we could win and we didn't play well for three quarters and we are not going to win playing just one quarter," SPHS Coach Micah Elliot said. "They beat us soundly for three quarters, so give credit to coach Armstrong and his kids they came out and just beat us."

From the start, the Eagles struggled with the Cougars offense. After jumping out in front in the first quarter, 16-2, the Cougars went on a 8-0 run at the start of the second quarter and used that momentum to stay on top of the Eagles.

"I was kind of disappointed with the kids effort in the first three quarters and it's my reasonability to get them fired up and ready to play and I didn't do that and the kids didn't respond well," Elliot said. "We came out flat and couldn't catch up with them."

Two of the Eagles main scorers, Drew Cash and Cameron Chestnut were powerless in the first three quarters of the game. It wasn't until midway through the fourth, that they came to life and when they did, they couldn't miss. Chestnut scored 10 of his 12 points in the fourth and Cash scored five of his 10 in that quarter as well. The Eagles kept chipping away at the Cougars lead, but couldn't pull it off.

"You have to give them credit, they hit some shots in the fourth quarter," Armstrong said. "Give them credit they didn't stop fighting because when you have a 15 point lead you should bury your opponent, so give them credit for fighting back and not giving up."

One thing that helped ensure the Cougars win was the fact that they hit their foul shots when the Eagles didn't .

North Putnam went 10-for-16 in the fourth quarter at the foul line and 16-for-26 for the night, while the Eagles were 10-for-19 for the night at the charity stripe.

"Foul shots are momentum shots," Armstrong said. "If you hit your foul shots, you stop your opponents momentum if they are on a run and if you hit yours then you momentum keeps going," Armstrong said.

With this loss, the Eagles drop to 5-11 on the season and 0-5 in the West Central Conference, while North Putnam improves to 3-11 on the season and 2-2 in the WCC.

The Cougars were led by Mitchell Crum who totaled 12 points for the night while Jerrett Ban scored 10 points and Scott Hunt scored nine point's. Kyle Alcorn and Kyle Adams both scored seven for the Cougars while Griffen Dahlstrom scored six and Cory Dean scored five points.

Outside of Chestnut and Cash, the Eagles were paced by Noah Boswell who had 13 for night while Conor Frame scored nine points and Grant Zimmerman pitched in five. Derek Dean and Adam Masters had two points each as well.

The Cougars will be back in action today when they host South Vermillion at 7:30 p.m. and the Eagles will be in action on Tuesday when they travel to Greencastle for a 7:30 p.m. tip off

At South Putnam

N. Putnam 12 13 13 18 -- 56

S. Putnam 6 11 11 27 -- 55

S. Putnam -- Nelson 0 1-2 1, Chestnut 4 1-2 11, Cash 4 1-2 10, Frame 3 3-3 9, Dean 1 0-0 2, Boswell 5 3-8 13, Masters 1 0-0 2, Zimmerman 2 0-0 5. Totals -- FG 20-50, FT 9-17, TP 55.

N. Putnam -- Crum 4 4-4 12, Alcorn 2 3-4 7, Ban 3 4-6 10, Hunt 3 2-4 9, Dean 2 0-0 5, Adams 3 1-2 7, Dahlstrom 2 2-4 6. Totals -- FG 19-46, FT 16-26, TP 56.