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Lopsided first quarter does in Eagles
MONROVIA -- Had the first quarter not happened Friday night at Monrovia High School, South Putnam's boys' basketball squad might be talking about its first WCC win of the season.
But a 21-6 deficit proved to be the margin of victory for the Bulldogs as the hosts knocked off the Eagles 73-58.
South Putnam coach Troy Burgess said that the large opening deficit was one the squad couldn't afford to give up.
"We just can't dig ourselves a hole like that," Burgess said. "That's two weeks in a row that we've come out of the gates slow and been down 20, 25 at half.
"Then we have to battle back and it takes so much energy that we just run out of gas."
Trey Moore hit a free throw to open the scoring before Trevor Eisenhut went on a personal 12-4 run and the Bulldogs closed the quarter with a 9-1 surge to take a 15-point lead.
Another 10-0 run seemed to point toward a comfortable night for the hosts before the Eagles rallied to close the quarter with a 10-5 run.
Trailing by 20 entering the second half, South Putnam came straight at Monrovia, resulting in a drawn-out second half with 26 fouls but a far more evenly contested half of basketball.
Moore scored 11 of the visitors' 22 third quarter points but only cut the deficit by six heading into the final quarter.
Both squads played at a breakneck pace in the final period but without being able to keep the hosts off the scoreboard, the Eagles could not come closer than 11, falling for the third time in conference play.
Burgess said the squad played the second half with a purpose that was missing in the first half.
"We didn't have very good effort in the first half," Burgess said. "We played our tails off in the second half. I was proud of the way they played.
"We did everything we could do. We played hard and got after them. We didn't play scared. We battled."
South Putnam turns around to host Tri-West Saturday and Burgess said the squad could not afford to start off that game the same way they had against Monrovia.
"Tri-West is a very good team," Burgess noted. "If we come out and play like we did at the start tonight it will be over quick.
"They've got a great basketball team and we've got to play 32 minutes like we did in the second half if we want to be competitive tomorrow night."
At Monrovia
South Putnam 6 10 22 20 -- 58
Monrovia 21 15 16 21 -- 72
Scoring
South Putnam -- Moore 18, Schroer 10, Rutter 6, Long 6, Masters 6, Chestnut 5, Carmichael 3, McHugh 2, Lorian 0, Menke 0; 16-61 FG, 3-12 3-FG, 17-31 FT
Monrovia -- Eisenhut 23, Williams 17, Hale 12, Smith 8, L. Serber 8, Barnett 2, Wright 2, Baker 0, Seals 0, D. Serber 0, Benge 0; 19-60 FG, 6-12 3-FG, 17-26 FT
Rebounding (Offense): SP 38 (14), Mon 22 (5); Assists: SP 5, Mon 8; Blocks: SP 4, Mon 4; Steals: SP 3, Mon 15; Turnovers: SP 23, Mon 14; Fouls: SP 21, Mon 23
Next Game: South Putnam (1-9, 0-3 WCC) hosts Tri-West Saturday night.