Eagles drop regular season finale

CAYUGA--A low-scoring affair is just what South Putnam wanted, and that is what the Eagles got Saturday night.

"It's what we've got to have," Eagles' coach Troy Burgess said, "We've got to keep the game in the 40s and 50s. We know that. If we get into the 60s and 70s we don't have enough offensive power to do that. We did a good job of doing that tonight."

The Eagles (4-15 0-5 WCC) traveled to North Vermillion (11-10 3-3 Wabash River) and kept it tight but fell on the wrong end, 49-42.

Both teams played well, but each also had breakdowns. For the Eagles it was they gave up too many offensive rebounds, which led to 28 second-chance points. They kept the Falcons outside of the arc, but they were able to hit down the long shots. They had eight threes altogether and 13 offensive rebounds. Overall, that made the big difference.

"I thought the big difference of the night was the offensive rebounds they got," Burgess said, "On 12 of their 13 offensive boards they got second-chance points and four were three pointers. If we could have gotten the rebounds we could have won by 10 or 15 points."

The Eagles were able to break the Falcon press and that led to 18 first-half points for senior Trey Moore.

Moore kept his team in touching distance of North Vermillion and his team found him when they were being pressured.

Overall, the Eagles were over 50 percent from the inside on the night.

The Falcons managed to hold Moore to only four second-half points. This took a toll on the Eagles, but they had other contributors who tied the game and made it an even contest for most of the third quarter. Sophomore Trey Long and junior Jake Schroer scored big points in the quarter.

It was not until late in the third that the Eagles started to falter. While tied at 35, the Eagles had two straight turnovers, which led five Falcon points and at the buzzer Falcon sophomore Corey Davis grabbed an offensive rebound and knocked down a big three. This took the Eagles into the fourth down five.

"It comes down to they have had more success this year," Burgess said, "They have won more games. We haven't. Sometimes when you get put in a situation like that bad things happens. We had two straight turnovers and the next thing you know is it is a five-point game."

The fourth quarter was an even match, but the Eagles could gain no ground. It came down to the final seconds and they had to foul. In return North Vermillion had to miss free throws. Instead, they hit 6-of-7 and South Putnam was only able to respond with a Trey Moore layup.

"Give North Vermillion some credit, but we just had some costly turnovers down the stretch," Burgess said, "But, we are better now than we were earlier in the season. All you can ask for is improvement."

At North Vermillion
South Putnam 8 16 10 8 -- 42
North Vemillion 10 17 12 10 -- 49
South Putnam (42): Moore 22, Long 8, Schroer 6, Carmichael 2, Chestnut 2, Rutter 2, McHugh 0. Totals 18-36 4-8 42.
North Vermillion (49): Wright 21, Woodard 15, Davis 8, Sams 5, Clark 0, Martin 0. Totals 16-36 9-12 49.
Assists: SP 9, NV 7. Steals: SP 3, NV 3. Turnovers: SP 14, NV 10. 3-pt M-ATT: SP 2-8, NV 8-21. Rebounds (OFF): SP 18(8), NV 20(11).