North Putnam suffers loss to No. 3 Rockville

Saturday, December 10, 2011
North Putnam's Jameson Brewer scored eight points in the Cougars' Friday loss to Rockville.

North Putnam's boys' basketball squad will still be searching for their first win of the season next week after falling to Class A No. 3 Rockville 55-32 Friday night.

The Cougars took the lead early on the road with baskets by Jameson Brewer and Braydon Porter, as the host Rox missed several early shots.

Rockville then stepped up the pressure and with it came a strong turnaround.

The home side went on an 18-2 run to end the quarter, with 11 of those points coming inside the final three minutes of the period to end the quarter up 18-6.

The squads then went toe-to-toe in the second period as both sides answered shots back and forth, with the Cougars unable to make up much ground against the hosts.

Adding to the first half misery was a last-second three point shot from Rockville's Matt Wheeler that stretched the lead to 32-16 heading into halftime.

The third period of play was similar to the second as the Cougars continued to hang in the game but couldn't match Rockville's offensive potency, summed up best with a minute to go in the quarter.

Rockville's Lane Mahurin, who led all scorers with 15 points, split a double team and forced up a shot bent over at the waist that managed to creep in, even with North Putnam defender Nate Bryan forcing him away from the basket.

The fourth quarter saw substitutes from both teams move in and out frequently as Rockville's lead was never in doubt up to the final horn.

After dropping their fourth game of the season, head coach Nathan Martindale said that Rockville's play did a number on his squad.

"It all boiled down to us handling the pressure, and I don't think we did a good job of that tonight. Guys were going to spots we didn't want them to go to. It's a learning curve for them," Martindale said.

"I thought defensively, in the first half, we were pretty active. We just missed too many rebounds and loose balls. When you give them second chance points, they're going to convert, and that's where we got hurt."

"They were able to get easy buckets from loose balls and we weren't able to convert them. We couldn't get into our offense, our flow. They took away a lot of things from us," Martindale added.

In the midst of a tough stretch of five consecutive away games, Martindale said the tough schedule of November and December will bear fruit later in the year.

"I think we'll be battled-tested. These guys are getting a taste of what of what it's like and getting some good experience on what you have to do to play and win," Martindale said.

"The first two games I thought we played pretty well defensively, but there are still things to get better at. They've come in to this part of the season with the attitude and effort we need.

"We just have to sustain it into the late December-early January time period. It's a place where people start thinking more about Christmas than about basketball."

For now, a trip to Crawfordsville awaits the Cougars. Martindale expects some bumps in the road, but thinks the Cougars still have plenty of room to grow.

"We've got to fine tune everything we've got. We need to get better on both ends. I don't think we're nearly good enough on the defensive end or the offensive end. We're capable of being much better," Martindale said.

"It's going to take some time and more practice. We're playing catch-up getting guys where they need to be so that we're ready for the long stretch in January and February."

At Rockville

North Putnam 6 10 10 6 -- 32

Rockville 18 14 14 9 -- 55

Scoring

North Putnam -- 12-35 FG, 1-7 3-FG, 7-12 FT

Bryan 12, Brewer 8, Porter 5, Wiltermood 2, Stanley 2, Nauert 2, Everts 1

Rockville -- 23-60 FG, 7-24 3-FG, 2-11 FT

Mahurin 15, Ulrich 12, McFall 9, Jefferies 8, M. Wheeler 6, K. Wheeler 2, Foster 2, Brown 1

Next game-- North Putnam travels to Crawfordsville Saturday for a JV/Varsity doubleheader starting at 6 p.m.