South Putnam drops home opener by 19

South Putnam's Cameron Chestnut hangs in the air with an Edgewood defender in his face. Chestnut scored 22 points to lead the Eagles.

GREENCASTLE -- For 4:30 in the third quarter, it looked like the Eagles were going to bounce back and take control of their game with Edgewood Saturday night.

But in basketball, anything can change the flow of momentum, and for the Eagles it was three fouls.

At the start of the second half, South Putnam trailed the Mustangs 30-14, but in just over four minutes, the Eagles found themselves within four of Edgewood.

Derek Dean started the Eagles off in the third, nailing a jumper. Then Cameron Chestnut stepped up and drained a big three out of the right corner, putting the Eagles on a 5-0 run. Edgewood continued to attack the basket, but couldn't get a shot to drop, and Adam Masters was standing in the paint grabbing the ball as it bounced off the rim. South Putnam pushed its run from five to 12 points after Chestnut hit two free throws and another three pointer, putting South Putnam within four at 30-26.

That's when it happened.

First, the Mustangs broke the Eagles' scoring run with two from the charity stripe, then Masters, Chestnut and Rob Gibson drew their fourth fouls, respectively, and had to be pulled.

"It's tough when you lose three starters to foul trouble," SPHS coach Micah Elliott said. "But I think our younger guys responded well. They (Edgewood) just started to hit some shots and that is something the younger guys are going to have to get used to."

The Eagles bench did step up and hold the Mustangs to 10 third quarter points, but the fourth was another story.

The Mustangs outscored the Eagles 23-16 in the fourth Edgewood's Alex Narey finally found the sweet spot on the south end rim and nailed four straight shots, one two-pointer and three treys -- putting the game out reach for good. Narey went 1-for-7 from the field total in the third quarter and 0-for-4 from downtown.

Then things got worse for the Eagles. Masters and Gibson made it back into the game, but only to foul out shortly there after. With Masters out of the picture, the Mustangs had free rein in the paint and Levi Garner made that quite clear to South Putnam. He penetrated the lane and when he didn't hit his shots, he drew the foul and converted the free throws.

Edgewood won the contest, 63-44.

"This was a physical game and Edgewood is a really good team," Elliott said. "I thought we responded well to them also, but we are young at the point guard position. But a game like this will make you better at the position."

South Putnam is now 0-2 on the season and is back in action on Friday when it takes part in the Putnam County Classic.

At South Putnam

South Putnam 5 9 14 16 -- 44

Edgewood 18 12 10 23 -- 63

South Putnam -- Gibson 2 0-2 5, Hammond 0 0-0 0, Chestnut 6 7-11 22, Varvel 0 0-0 0, Freeman 1 3-4 5, Geier 1 0-0 2, Dean 2 4-4 8, Masters 1 0-2 0. Totals -- 13 FG, 14-23 FT, 44 TP

Edgewood -- Meek 3 0-2 6, Narey 8 2-6 22, Raventos 0 3-3 3, Garner 6 10-12 23, Horne 3 3-4 9. Totals -- 20 FG, 15-23 FT, 63 TP

Next Game -- South Putnam is now 0-2 on the season and is back in action on Friday when they take part in the Putnam County Classic.