North Putnam succumbs to Hot Dogs in semifinal

FRANKFORT -- Frankfort High School had their way with North Putnam in the semifinal of Sectional 25, defeating the Cougars 70-33 inside Case Arena.

The Hot Dogs (10-13) began the game on a speedy 9-0 run led entirely by Christian Smith. His two superhoops from both elbows sandwiched the more difficult and-one three-point play, forcing the Cougars (7-14) to call a timeout.

Frankfort's run would go to 15-0 before the 2:08 mark when Nate Bryan swished a jumper in the paint to stop the early bleeding.

But there wasn't a tourniquet big enough for the Cougars on Friday night. Smith's early nine were part of a game-high 26, 20 of which came in the first half, where he alone outscored North Putnam by 10.

His teammates chipped in 18 combined points, leading putting the halftime deficit at 28 for the Cougars.

Smith ended the game shooting 10-13 from the floor, 5-5 from long range, adding on eight rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Tim Wiltermood hit the first shot of the second half but the game was already far out of reach. The North Putnam point guard finished with eight points, no assists and 10 turnovers.

"We didn't play the way we were capable of playing," North Putnam head coach Nathan Martindale said, "we had a lot of easy looks in the first quarter, and we got frustrated with ourselves missing those shots.

"But in the end I'm the head coach and I didn't get the job done. I'll take a lot of the credit for the loss tonight."

The season, however, was not a total loss.

"We've had a lot of highs and a lot of lows," Martindale went on, "But we won seven this year which is one more than last year and one more than the year before that."

Coach Martindale was especially full of praise for how his seniors performed all season.

"What can't I say about my seniors," he reminisced, "Each of them contributed in every one of our wins."

Kolten Everts and Jameson Brewer matched Wiltermood's eight points for North Putnam. Brewer also had a game-high nine rebounds but the Cougars were had their pockets picked seventeen times by Frankfort. The Hot Dogs out-rebounded North Putnam 33-25 and outshot the Cougars by thirty per cent.

North Putnam finishes the season 7-14 overall, going 2-3 in West Central Conference play.

At Frankfort

IHSAA No. 28 Sectional

North Putnam 5 5 9 14 -- 33

Frankfort 18 20 14 18 --70