NP nipped by Monrovia

Saturday, January 16, 2010

ROACHDALE -- North Putnam's boys couldn't keep up with Monrovia's fast-paced offense Friday, losing 95-70 in a West Central Conference basketball game on the Cougars' court.

"We put up enough points," North Putnam coach Nathan Martindale said. "The bottom line is we didn't defend well enough."

The Cougars (3-8, 0-2 WCC) had good offensive production from guard Payne Stewart with 17 points, forward Kyle Adams with 15 and forward James Hedrick with 14. Adams, a 6-foot-3 senior, also had a game-high nine rebounds.

"I thought Payne Stewart had a really good game," Martindale said. "Hunter Logan (three points, three rebounds) came in and got us some good boards, gave us some good minutes. Those are good things to see, some other guys stepping into some roles."

North Putnam shot a fine 52.1 percent (24-of-46) from the field, including 3-of-7 3-pointers and were 19-of-31 (61.2 percent) at the free throw line. But the Cougars were out-rebounded, 36-27.

They committed a relatively low 13 turnovers, but Monrovia (6-3, 2-1 WCC) had only eight. It was a possession advantage that the Bulldogs exploited in a fast-break offense in which they made 34-of-66 field goals (51.5 percent) including 7-of-16 3-pointers. Monrovia was 20-of-31 (64.5 percent) at the foul line.

"Monrovia is a transition team, they want to score a lot of points," Martindale said. "We gave them a lot of easy looks and they also hit some very difficult shots. They were shooting the basketball very well and we wanted to slow the pace up. We got to the point where we were missing shots and we had some turnovers and the game got away from us.

"We had spurts where we played really good and we had spurts where we played really bad, For us, it's gaining some consistency," Martindale said.

North Putnam trailed 20-15 at the end of the first period, but were outscored 28-14 in a decisive second period.

"We came out in the first quarter and I thought we did some really good things," Martindale said. "They hit some tough shots on us. Then, the second quarter, it just kind got out of hand. We lost our cool, we started letting them dictate how we play and that's not the way we want to play against them.

"They had a 19-point lead at halftime, I thought we did some pretty good things in the second half. We stayed with them and basically played with them. I think it boils down -- and we've said this a couple of times this year -- that second quarter. We've got to have a better level of consistency."

North Putnam played without starting point guard Tim Wiltermood, who has been sidelined with a sprained elbow for several weeks, and forward Brock Jones, who suffered a concussion a week ago against Rockville. Martindale expects both to be cleared to play Monday.

"We're thinking next week we'll go full strength," Martindale said.

At North Putnam

Monrovia 20 28 23 24 -- 95

North Putnam 15 14 21 20 -- 70

Monrovia 95

Watson 8-12 0-0 16, Johnson 1-1 1-1 3, Shuee 5-11 2-3 12, Gray 3-8 3-4 12, Connor 6-11 0-2 14, Everett 2-7 2-5 6, McCleerey 2-4 5-8 10, Benefiel 2-4 0-0 4, McIntosh 1-1 1-2 3, Porter 1-1 0-0 3, Sowers 2-5 6-6 10, Michel 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 34-66 20-31 95.

North Putnam 70

Hedrick 5-15 2-2 14, Adams 4-5 7-9 15, Hutcheson 3-5 0-2 6, Stewart 5-11 6-8 17, Franklin 3-5 1-2 7, Porter 0-0 0-0 0, Logan 0-2 3-8 3, Summerlot 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 24-46 19-31 70.

3-point field goals -- Mon 7-16 (Gray 3-7, Connor 2-5, McCleerey 1-1, Porter 1-1, Watson 0-1, Benefiel 0-1), NP 3-7 (Hedrick 2-6, Stewart 1-1). Rebounds -- Mon 36 (Shuee 6, Connor 6, Watson 5), NP 27 (Adams 9). Turnovers -- Mon 7, NP 13. Personal fouls -- Mon 24, NP 26. Technical foul -- Franklin.