Cougars go north, lose to Chargers 70-50

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The North Putnam boys' basketball team made the final trek of the regular season north to take on the North Montgomery Chargers. The boys battled hard but the Chargers held the upper hand the entire night taking the game 70-50.

The Cougars got off to a poor start and that set the tone for the rest of the night.

There was no score for the first two and a half minutes but once both teams started shooting, it was clear the Chargers came to play.

Senior Nathan Rogers set the tone in the game with a game-high 33 points for NMHS.

Not to be outmatched, NPHS senior Jake Haste had 15 points. Haste was a physical inside threat and went to the line on four "and-one" opportunities.

The Cougars had 20 points at the half, but were outscored by Rogers alone, who had 22 of the Chargers' 42.

"I was disappointed in how we played defense in the first half, we played lackadaisical. We stood around a lot and didn't help out a lot," NPHS coach Nathan Martindale said.

The Cougars protected the ball very well in the game only having seven turnovers and forcing the Chargers to commit six in the fourth quarter alone, and 12 the whole game.

North Putnam's two-point shots were very high percentage, but when they shot threes, it went down.

The Cougars shot 48 percent from two-point range but only 23 percent from moneyball range.

"I didn't have a problem with the shot selection, we were just not hitting," said Martindale.

The Chargers also had a very good rate from two, converting 49 percent of the shots, and 64 percent from three-point range.

The Cougars had their chances to get back into the game. The best was in the fourth frame.

The Cougars had just made a shot and cut the lead to 13, the closest in more than two quarters.

Rogers then came down the court and, with just under three minutes left, made a corner three to extend the lead to 16 and put the Cougars out of action for the rest of the night.

The Cougars open the sectional with a bye and will be in action on March 1 against the winner of North Montgomery and Lebanon.

"We are in a tough sectional we play in," Martindale said. "Guys are going to have to buy in and figure out ... whether they want to come in with a passion and finish out on a good note, or go through the motions like in the first half (tonight)."

At North Montgomery
North Putnam 8 12 15 15 -- 50
No. Montgomery19 23 13 15 -- 70