Eagles fall to Bruins

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LIZTON -- On Saturday night, the South Putnam Eagles boys' basketball team traveled to Tri-West to play the Bruins, a possible sectional foe.

The Eagles were coming off a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer to Monrovia the previous evening, 49-47.

Entering the game, South Putnam knew that Tri-West would be a challenge as the senior-laden Bruins entered the game ranked 10th in Class 2A and were celebrating Winter Homecoming before a packed gymnasium.

South Putnam played a solid game of the both ends of the floor, but the more athletic and more experienced Bruins handed the Eagles a loss, 57-34.

The Eagles throttled the high-scoring Bruins' offense in the first quarter, limiting Tri-West to 10 points, and only trailed by four points going into the second quarter, 6-10.

However, Tri-West unleashed an offensive barrage in the second period that doomed South Putnam, scoring 19 points in the stanza, The Eagles were not able to recover from the deficit.

Tri-West only outscored South Putnam by seven points during the rest of the game, as the Bruins scored eight unanswered points in the final minutes of the game. South Putnam coach Brian Gardner subbed his starters about half way through the final quarter to get his reserves some valuable experience against the talented Bruins.

"I'm extremely proud of our kids," Gardner said after the game. "Coming off of our loss last night, I was really worried about a let down, and our kids came out a battled with them. We didn't really have any bad quarters and it wasn't like we really gave any big spurts.

"We held them to under 60 points and probably gave up 15 to 20 offensive rebounds. Before the game, I felt that if could hold them to under 60 points, we would be in the game.

"If we could have limited them to one shot and their offensive rebounds tonight, we could have been in the game," Gardner added.

South Putnam had one player who scored in double figures, as Adam Nees scored 12. Ben Anderson and Derek Cash followed with seven each, while Conor Frame chipped in four, and Cameron Chestnut and Ben Parker closed out the Eagle scoring with two points each.

Noah Boswell had four rebounds and Anderson, Nees, Derek Tomaw, and Derek Cash grabbed each.

South Putnam lost the junior varsity game, 43-30.

Adam Masters led the Eagles in scoring with eight points, followed by Drew Cash and Dayne Nelson with six each.

The Eagles host county and WCC rival Cloverdale Friday night in the second game of a boy-girl doubleheader. The girls' game begins at 6 p.m.

At Tri-West

South Putnam 6 7 10 11 -- 34

Tri-West 10 19 13 15 -- 57

South Putnam (2-11, 0-5 WCC) -- Hammond 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 3-6 0-2 7, Chestnut 1-2 0-0 2, Sebanc 0-1 0-0 0, Nees 5-10 2-2 12, Tomaw 0-0 0-0 0, Frame 2-4 0-0 4, Cash 3-5 0-0 7, Boswell 0-0 0-2 0, Parker 1-3 0-0 2, Masters 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-32 FG 2-6 FT, 34 TP.

Tri-West (10-4, 2-2 SAC) -- Pfeifer 0-0 0-0 0, Tanselle 3-10 2-2 11, Ricks 4-12 0-0 10, Robertson 0-1 0-2 0, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Allen 2-2 0-0 4, Lowe 1-4 0-0 2, Pugliese 0-0 0-0 0, Moses 3-8 0-0 7, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Bruce 7-15 2-3 20, Perle 1-1 0-0 3, Skudrovskis 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 21-54 FG 4-9 FT, 57 TP.

3-pt. FG - SP 2-7 (Anderson 1-1), TW 11-30 (Tanselle 3-9). Rebounds - SP 22 (Boswell 4), TW 26 (Bruce 9). Blocks -- SP 1 (Cash 1), TW 1 (Thompson 1). Assists -- SP 7 (Anderson 2), TW 13 (Lowe 3, Bruce 3). Steals -- SP 2 (Anderson, Tomaw 1), TW 12 (Bruce 3). Total fouls -- SP 15, TW 11. Fouled out -- none. Turnovers - SP 13, TW 5.

Junior Varsity -- South Putnam lost, 43-30.

Next Game -- The Eagles face Cloverdale in a boy-girl doubleheader, beginning with the girls' game at 6 p.m.