South Putnam struggles in season opener

Thursday, November 27, 2014

DANVILLE -- The South Putnam boys' basketball team had a tough task on Wednesday evening, visiting a tenacious Danville team in coach Greg Dean's first game at the helm.

The Warriors proved too much for the Eagles, winning 81-29.

The first quarter was the best of the night for South Putnam. The hosts got up 6-0 but the Eagles came back strong.

Following back-to-back buckets by senior Jacob Schroer and a rebound basket by fellow senior Jacob Carmichael, the score was tied at 6-6 with 4:24 to play.

Chad Menke

The Eagles later got two free throws from Chad Menke to go up 10-8.

Eagle head coach Greg Dean was pleased with the start of his squad.

"We came out ready to play there in the first quarter. We moved the ball well and we went strong to the bucket," Dean said. "I thought we came out with a lot of excitement. We handled their pressure early and got us off to a good start.

"The second quarter we just didn't take care of the ball and make good decisions. We were into it in the first because we took good shots and made good passes, which we got away from."

The Eagles had 10 second-quarter turnovers and fell behind 45-15 at the half.

"You have to give Danville coach Brian Barber credit, he has a good squad," Dean said. "They played their pressure defense and we just didn't get our job done. They're going to be a team to watch as the year goes on, and he's a good coach."

The Warriors came out just as strong in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 17-8 and went into the final quarter up 62-22.

In the final quarter, Danville continued its run with a 19-7 run to pick up its first win of the season, 81-29.

Despite the loss, the Eagles had a couple bright spots. They finished the game 15-of-19 from the free throw line, something Dean was pleased with.

"I was very happy with our free throw shooting," Dean said. "It's something we work on and in close games it can decide the outcome. It's a positive and we'll take it and work on getting to the line more often."

For the Eagles, Menke was the leading scorer, hitting two field goals and a perfect 8 of 8 from the line for 12 points and five rebounds. Schroer added eight points.

"We have the first game now over, we'll enjoy Thanksgiving tomorrow and then get back to work on Friday morning," Dean said. "We have to come out at practice and work on taking better care of the basketball. We have to cut better, screen better, and we have to keep our dribble alive.

"We're going to get better every day," he added. "That's something we talk about and we worked hard tonight and never gave up, I'm proud of my guys for that. We have to come in with the process that we're going to be better that we were yesterday, and work hard from there."

South Putnam is back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 2, hosting Turkey Run at 7:30 p.m.

At Danville
South Putnam 10 4 8 7 -- 29
Danville 16 29 17 19 -- 81
Scoring
South Putnam:
Menke 12, Schroer 8, Long 4, Parks 2, Carmichael 2, Stewart 1

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: