Eagles net first win against Southmont

Monday, December 11, 2006

While the weather outside started a warming trend, the South Putnam High School boys' basketball team was hoping to warm up with a victory over Southmont.

Thanks to some hot three-point shooting, the Eagles did just that, earning a 69-58 win over the Mounties.

The first period saw both teams struggle to get the upper hand as both the Eagles and Mounties took turns turning the ball over.

But the Eagles managed to gain a slight edge at the end of the period, holding an 11-9 lead.

Southmont called a timeout at the 4:56 mark in the second trailing only by two in an attempt to get its offense back on track.

But after the timeout, South Putnam got hot from behind the arc when Conor Frame drained a three with 3:58 remaining in the half.

The Eagles came away with a quick steal on the Mounties' next possession, leading to a three-pointer from Derek Cash. Almost three minutes later, Ben Anderson nailed one more triple to give SPHS its biggest lead of the night, a 31-23 going into the halftime break.

As the second half got underway it was more of the same, as South Putnam's offense got rolling early.

The Eagles controlled the tempo in the third and put up 23 points in the period. South Putnam ended the third with a 14 point lead, 54-40, and the hopes for a Mounties comeback were slipping away.

In the fourth, Southmont attempted a full court press in hopes of stalling the South Putnam offense and mounted an offensive charge of its own.

Justen Stewart, Andrew Actis and Brody Nichols each hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to single digits, 60-51.

South Putnam coach Brian Gardner called a timeout with 4:21 to go in the game to calm the Eagles down, but SPHS was hit with a five-second violation straight out of the gate, giving possession back to the Mounties.

But the Eagles were able to convert a missed three-pointer from Actis into a quick lay-up to put South back up by 11.

With time winding down, the Mounties began to launch three-pointers but weren't able to connect, and the Eagles hung on to win the game, 69-58.

Ben Anderson led the Eagles with 28 points, while Conor Frame had 10 and Noah Boswell nine.

Southmont was led by Tyler Price, who scored 15 points. Stewart had 11 for the Mounties.

The Eagles (1-4) will be in action again Friday when they travel to Speedway for a 7:30 p.m. start.

At South Putnam

Southmont 9 14 17 18 -- 55

South Putnam 11 20 23 15 -- 69

Leading scorers -- South Putnam (Anderson 28, Frame 10, Boswell 9), Southmont (Price 15, Stewart 11)

Next Game -- South Putnam (1-4) will visit Speedway Friday for a 7:30 p.m. start.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: