Cougars win in double-overtime

Monday, January 8, 2007

For the BannerGraphic

DOVER -- The North Putnam and Western Boone boys' basketball teams performed a perfect impression of their battle a season ago Saturday night.

The game again went into double-overtime and was decided by three points. The only difference was the victory, as the Cougars picked up a 66-63 win.

"We played the exact same game we played with them last year. It just ended up going the other way," North Putnam coach Wes Peek said. "I'm just so happy."

A coast-to-coast drive and lay-up by NPHS guard Jake Mullis with less than a second remaining in regulation sent the game into overtime.

In the first overtime, a three-pointer by the Stars' Calvin Grieshaber with 14 seconds to go led to a second overtime period.

But foul trouble sent Grieshaber and Stars' center Caleb Weber to the bench early in the second extra frame.

That was all Mullis and the Cougars needed, as they outscored the Stars 7-4 in double overtime to take home the win.

"We are a team that has primary scorers that need to score for us, and fouling out Calvin and Caleb didn't do us any favors," Western Boone coach Torrey Rodkey said. "You have to give North Putnam credit. They just kept attacking the basket, and we had no answer for it."

Mullis led all scorers with 30 points, while Weber had a team-high 17 for Western Boone, and Grieshaber scored 16.

Western Boone came out strong in a physical, fast-paced game. Junior Kody Shepard, making the first start of his career, scored seven points and grabbed four offensive rebounds in the first quarter, helping the Stars out to a 16-10 lead heading into the second.

The second quarter was more of the same, with the Stars dominating the paint and earning a 15-10 rebounding advantage at the half to give them a 29-22 lead at halftime.

"We played pretty soft on the glass in the first half, and I told them, 'We have a choice to make. This is going the same way it did last year, and we can come back or play like we did (Friday) and get blown out,'" Peek said.

The Stars (4-6) extended their lead to 38-29, their largest of the game, with two minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the third on a bucket in the paint from Weber.

"I felt like for a good two-to-three quarters we were in control of the game," Rodkey said. "We were rebounding well, and we were breaking their pressure."

A 17-8 run for the Cougars (4-3) over the next eight minutes knotted the game at 46-all with just less than two minutes to go in the fourth.

Weber put the Stars ahead, 50-48, with a pair of free throws with 7.1 seconds to go in regulation, but then Mullis sent the game into overtime, where the Cougars emerged victorious after the two extra stanzas.

Mullis' 30 points came via 11 free throws and many hard drives to the lane, for which the Stars never found an answer.

"The difference for them was Mullis just took over the game, and we didn't have anyone willing to come over and take a charge," Rodkey said. "What's frustrating is the two games before this we did a great job defensively."

Tyler Trent scored 12 for the Cougars, and Brayden Dahlstrom added 11.

Shepard had 11 points and five boards for Western Boone, and Drew Pearson had 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Junior varsity results from Saturday's game were not available at press time.

The Cougars will be in action again Friday at home against Monrovia with a scheduled start of 7:30 p.m.

At Western Boone

North Putnam 10 12 16 12 9 7 -- 66

Western Boone 16 13 12 9 9 4 -- 63

North Putnam (66) -- B. Dahlstrom 2-7 7-8 11, Schreiber 1-3 0-0 2, Trent 3-4 5-6 12, Mullis 9-16 11-20 30, Blaydes 1-3 0-0 3, Hedrick 2-4 1-1 5, Young 1-2 0-0 3.

Western Boone (63) -- Shepard 4-10 3-4 11, Grieshaber 6-14 1-2 16, Pearson 3-10 5-6 11, Vaughn 0-3 0-0 0, Pierce 2-3 0-0 5, Weber 7-12 3-4 17, Seymour 0-4 2-2 2, Adams 0-0 1-2 1, Huckstep 0-2 0-0 0.

3-pt FG -- North Putnam 4 (Young, Mullis, Blaydes, Trent), Western Boone 4 (Grieshaber 3)

Next Game -- North Putnam will host Monrovia Friday at 7:30 p.m.

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