Eagles knock off Wildcats

Monday, February 5, 2007

On Saturday, the South Putnam Eagles hoped to get some good play out of a handful of underclassmen to pick up a big win on Saturday night against the South Vermillion Wildcats.

And those underclassmen managed to pace the Eagles to a 74-65 victory over South Vermillion.

The game was evenly matched from the start, with both teams starting off a little slow, but in the first quarter, Ben Anderson went 2-for-3 from the field while also hitting a three-pointer to score seven of his 17 points in the first period, keeping the Eagles close as the Wildcats had a slight lead at the end of the first 15-13.

The second quarter started with a quick three from Anderson and six points from Derek Cash and Nathan Welty.

However, the Wildcats had some great plays in the second as well but it came mostly from Cole Milam as he pretty much owned the free throw line, going 6-for-8 from the stripe and scoring eight points in the second and 34 for the game. At the end of the second quarter, however, the Eagles held the slight edge at 28-26.

The third quarter saw the Eagles start taking some control of the game by being more patient and looking for more open shots. The defense of the Eagles also tightened down and caused a lot of problems for the Wildcats. The Eagles scored 19 points in the quarter led by the freshman Welty as he buried two clutch three-pointers in the period opening there lead at the end of the third to 47-40.

The fourth period was all the Eagles as their defense became smothering and the freshman Adam Masters controlled the inside, scoring 13 of his 16 in the final period.

"Our kids played for the first time all year both mentally and physically good ball," South Putnam coach Brian Gardner said. "Our freshmen that started tonight, Adam Masters and Nathan Welty, both played with confidence.

"Our seniors brought a lot of good leadership tonight and put us in the position to win. We had four players in double digits tonight, it was a very balanced scoring effort by our team tonight."

In junior varsity action, the Eagles lost, 36-33.

South Putnam will be back in action Thursday when it travels to Brazil to face Northview.

At South Putnam

South Vermillion 15 11 14 25 -- 65

South Putnam 13 12 19 27 -- 74

South Putnam -- Anderson 17, Masters 16, Welty 15, Nees 11, Cash 8, Boswell 4, Tomaw 3.

South Vermillion -- Milam 34, Fisher 10, Mumaw 9, Decker 4, Byram 3, Ashby 3, Peelman 2.

Junior Varsity -- South Putnam lost, 36-33.

Next Game -- The Eagles face Northview on the road Thursday.

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