Eagles downed in opener by Warriors

Thursday, November 28, 2013
Trey Moore

The South Putnam boys' basketball team opened its season Wednesday night, hosting the Danville Warriors. The Eagles put up a great fight but fell 57-41.

"I thought our kids worked hard, they worked very hard. We have a lot of things we need to work on and we will get better," SPHS head coach Troy Burgess said.

South Putnam controlled the game early and jumped out to a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter but foul trouble put sophomore center Trevor Long to the bench. A total of 15 fouls were called by the end of the first and both teams were in the bonus.

Due to the aggressive play and abundance of fouls, the Eagles were forced to go deep into the bench in the second quarter, as were the Warriors. The Warriors bench was much taller than the Eagles with six players 6-foot-3 or taller.

The height advantage for the Warriors was enough to make small runs here and there and eventually gain a big lead for the win. The Warriors height was not combined with quickness though; the Eagles outrebounded them 35-22.

"I feel pretty good about it, that was probably the best part about our game tonight. They did a great job of blocking out and rebounding and that was probably the best thing we did," Burgess said

The Warriors height was not the Eagles biggest obstacle to overcome. That came in the form of 110 pound, 5-foot-5 sophomore starting point guard Jake Elliott. He nailed 3-of-4 3-pointers from downtown and made it into the lane with ease, usually ending up with a chance for a three-point play.

Coming in to the season, the Eagles thought that they would be without senior guard Sawyer Arnold, but that was not the case as he started and put seven points on the board. He was being very careful to not aggravate his knee injury, but his shot is still deadly when he is on.

South Putnam began the season knowing someone had step up in place of Arnold this year to account for his expected dip in offensive production and, if trends continue, that person is looking like senior forward Trey Moore.

Moore led the Eagles in scoring last season and shot 42 percent from the floor on highly contested shots Wednesday. After most, he was on the ground.

"Trey played well," Burgess said. "He has got to get himself in better shape and he knows it. If he's going to be our go to guy, he has to get in better shape, and he will. Overall I thought he played real well."

Moore has the special ability to be able to knock down free throws with ease, hit mid range jumpers and he has an uncanny ability to get to the basket and finish strong.

He had 20 points and 9 rebounds on Wednesday.

On the night the Eagles were able to get shots off and came down with 14 offensive rebounds, but shooting 28 percent from the field will not win many games.

"We probably need to start shooting the ball more in practice, hopefully to take better shots," Burgess said.

They Eagles look this year to outperform last year's squad and Burgess knows it will take one day at a time.

"We just try to get better. We try to get better each night. We hope to come back Friday and be better than tonight, and the next day, better than that," Burgess said. "We just have to play it one day at a time and get better each day."



At South Putnam


Danville 10 21 15 11 -- 57

South Putnam 15 12 10 4 -- 41

Scoring


South Putnam (0-1): Moore 8-19 4-5 20, Arnold 3-12 0-0 7, Mitchell 2-3 0-0 4, Schroer 1-3 0-0 3, Vittetow 1-8 1-1 3, Long 1-5 0-0 2, Chestnut 0-2 1-2 1, Rutter 0-4 1-2 1 Total 16-58 (2-14) 7-13, 41.

Danville (1-0): Elliott 18, Callahan 8, Cowart 8, Shipley 8, Weir 5, Anderson 4, Cloncs 2, Collier 2, Davis 2 Total: 18-31 (3-9) 12-19, 57.

Rebounds-offensive: SP 35-14 (Moore 9-4, Rutter 6-4, Chestnut 5-2, Vittetow 4-0, Masters 3-2, Long 1-1, Mitchell 1-1, Arnold 2-0, Carmicheal 2-0) D 22-4.
Assists: Arnold 2, Chestnut, Mitchell, Rutter Vittetow. Steals: Chestnut 2, Arnold, Masters, Vittetow. Turnovers: SP 12, D 11 Fouls: SP 23 D 17. JV: SP 39 D 46.

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