Friday night, the South Putnam Eagles boys' basketball team hoped to get back in the win column, hosting the Rockville Rox, after losing to Cascade in the championship game of the 2005 Eagle Holiday Classic last Saturday night

Friday night, the South Putnam Eagles boys' basketball team hoped to get back in the win column, hosting the Rockville Rox, after losing to Cascade in the championship game of the 2005 Eagle Holiday Classic last Saturday night.

In a closely contested game, South Putnam pulled out its fifth win of the season in overtime, 62-60.

The Eagles offense was working well in opening quarter as Zach Rhine, Matt Hicks, Drew Christy, and Greg Chestnut all scored for the home team and the Eagles only committed one turnover during the stanza.

South Putnam led 12-8 at the end of the first stanza.

The Eagles were unable to score during the first four minutes of the second quarter and Rockville scored eight points to lead 16-12, but South Putnam's defense stiffened and stopped the Rox from scoring for the rest of the half.

Hicks scored a basket on an assist from Chestnut and Ben Anderson hit two big 3-point shots off passes from Christy and the Eagles took a 20-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.

South Putnam extended its lead to 31-25 at the end of third quarter, with its defense limiting Rockville to single-digit scoring for the third period of the game.

The Rox closed the Eagles' lead to 26-25 with 2:46 left in the quarter, but the Eagles closed out the stanza with five points from Anthony Tomasino and Christy for the six-point margin going into the fourth quarter.

South Putnam extended its lead to nine points at 48-39, with 1:02 left in regulation when Christy hit two free throws, and again at 49-40, 16 seconds later when Anderson hit a free throw.

Then Rockville began fouling South Putnam to try getting the ball back.

In the final 31 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Rox hit two, two-point and two, three-point shots, the final one with two seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

In the overtime, Hicks took over the game as his teammates hit him with passes in the paint and he scored 11 points in the extra period, and Tomasino hit a free throw with 0.3 left to seal the win for the Eagles.

South Putnam won the game by outdueling Rockville in every statistic of the game except one, free throw percentage.

The Eagles hit 14-of-28 from the line for 50 percent, while ironically hitting the same percentage from beyond the three-point arc on 6-of-12 shooting.

"One of the things we talked about going into this game was the fact that we knew they a good team that had some pretty good freshmen players," commented South Putnam coach Kyle Brewer after the game. "Another big point of emphasis for us tonight was trying to finish quarters. Our guys did a good job of finishing the first, the second, and the third quarters, but we had a real hard time of finishing the fourth quarter.

"A big part of the reason that we had trouble finishing that quarter was because we had trouble at the free throw line. For what ever reason, the ball just didn't go into the basket."

We were very fortunate to get the W tonight," Brewer added.

South Putnam had four players who scored in double figures. Hicks led with 26, while Chestnut scored 11, and Christy and Anderson had 10 points each.

Hicks had a double-double by pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds, four on the offensive end of the floor, also a game-high. Christy passed for a game-high nine assists and had a game-high four steals.

South Putnam improved its season record to 6-4 in the junior varsity game, winning 32-23.

Derek Cash led the Eagles in scoring with 14 points, followed by Michael Sebanc with nine, Adam Hammond with seven, and Conor Frame added two.

The Eagles (5-4, 0-2 WCC) travel to Eminence to play the Eels Saturday today. The junior varsity game begins at 6 p.m.

At South Putnam

South Putnam (5-4, 0-2 WCC) -- Rhine 2-4 0-0 4, Christy 4-7 2-5 10, McKinney 0-3 0-0 0, Anderson 3-7 1-5 10, Chestnut 3-4 2-4 11, Tomasino 0-0 1-4 1, Hicks 9-19 8-10 26, Frame 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-45 FG 14-28 FT, 62 TP.

Rockville (6-6, 0-0 WRC) -- Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, A. Bridge 5-11 3-7 14, King 2-4 0-2 6, Mahurin 4-5 2-4 13, Downs 0-2 0-0 0, R. Bridge 6-16 8-9 20, Vauters 3-8 0-1 7, Burgess 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 FG, 13-23, FT, 60 TP.

3-pt. FG - SP 6-12 (Rhine 0-1, Christy 0-2, Anderson 3-6, Chestnut 3-3), R 10-26 (A. Bridge 1-4, King 2-4, Mahurin 3-4, Downs 0-2, R. Bridge 3-8, Vauters 1-4). Rebounds - SP 31 (Rhine 2, Christy 3, McKinney 3, Anderson 3, Chestnut 3, Tomasino 1, Hicks 15, Frame 1), R 30 (A. Bridge 9, King 4, Mahurin 4, Downs 1, R. Bridge 4, Vauters 8). Blocks - SP 1 (Anderson 1), R 1 (R. Bridge 1). Assists - SP 14 (Christy 9, Anderson 1, Chestnut 1, Tomasino 2, Hicks 1), R 11 (King 1, R. Bridge 8, Vauters 2). Steals - SP 7 (Rhine 1, Christy 4, McKinney 1, Tomasino 1), R 4 (Mahurin 2, R. Bridge 1, Vauters 1). Total fouls - SP 17, R 18. Fouled out - Burgess. Turnovers - SP 6, R 5.

JV -- South Putnam defeated Rockville, 32-23.

Next game - The Eagles (5-4, 0-2 WCC) travel to Eminence to play the Eels Saturday (tonight) night. The junior varsity game begins at 6:00 p.m.