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North Putnam Cougars open season with big win over Southmont
CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Lukas Haworth could hardly keep his emotions under control. North Putnam's first-year head coach has always wanted to coach high school basketball.
The Cougars beat the Southmont Mounties 56-40 in the season-opener on Wednesday night to add to the thrill of Haworth's thrill.
"I'm extremely pleased with the first game," he said.
And he should be, too.
Senior Bennett Hazelgrove scored a 3-pointer in the third quarter to give the Cougars a 34-26 lead and to spark a 9-0 run.
Senior Jordan Nauert and junior Michael Roberts each drove to the basket to score and junior Brandon Hall hit a jumper to give North Putnam a 40-26 lead.
Roberts scored six of his 12 points in the third. Hazelgrove and Hall also scored 12 points to lead the Cougars.
"We really felt that any of our guards could have a mismatch somewhere in the game," Haworth said. "Once (Roberts) had a certain matchup, we just road with it. He got into a rhythm and he did a great job of finishing when he needed to, finding guys when he needed to, and, for a junior who is getting his first significant varsity time and varsity start, it was a great job by Michael Roberts there."
North Putnam scored eight straight points in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Roberts and Hall scored next to the basket twice, Robert drove to the basket and Nauert hit two free throws.
"One thing that we've talked about for the last two weeks, even before we started preparing for any team, was putting plays back-to-back," Haworth said. "If you get a stop, you don't take a chance, you get a score. If you get a score, you don't take a chance, you get a stop."
And that's exactly what North Putnam did.
The Cougars forced 26 turnovers -- 17 in the first half alone.
"We always say that scoring starts with defense and rebounding," Haworth said. "Anytime you can hold a high school team to under 50 points, that's a great night."
The Cougars play South Putnam in the Putnam County Classic at 8 p.m. on Dec. 6.