Eagle boys fall behind early, can't recover

Trevor Long of South Putnam puts up a shot during the game against Cascade. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

The South Putnam boys' basketball team was trailing by two when Cascade managed to knock down a three at the first-quarter buzzer.

The shot was the spark for a 25-7 Cadet run that helped the visitors run away with a 56-38 win over the Eagles Friday night.

South Putnam coach Greg Dean said many of the problems the Eagles encountered came down to being in foul trouble.

"When (Cascade) opened it up, a lot of us coincided with us getting into foul trouble," Dean said. "Jacob Carmichael got two fouls and we took him out of the middle and he is solid in the middle.

"When we took him out, we didn't do as good a job of taking care of the basketball and they got some easy layups."

After a slow start by both teams, Cascade ended the first and started the second quarter with threes that gave the Cadets a 15-7 lead.

The visitors then began to press South Putnam near half-court, swiping the ball eight times in the period and rattling off several uncontested layups.

By the time the two-minute mark of the half approached, Cascade held a 34-14 lead and went into halftime up 16.

The lead would hold up in the second half as the Eagle offense could not make a sizable dent into the Cascade lead, sending the hosts to their fourth straight loss.

Dean said the team had chances to get back into the game but were not as decisive as they could have been.

"We've got to be a little more consistent and know what we're supposed to be doing," Dean said. "A lot of times, they would get a bucket and instead of getting in transition, we would walk it up to prepare for that trap.

"One of the best things to do against a team that does a zone or trap is to beat it down the floor. We didn't do a good job of that early but later in the game, we were able to build off that."

South Putnam hosts Southmont Saturday night and Dean said getting back on to the floor quickly would be to the Eagles' advantage.

At South Putnam

Cascade 12 22 11 11 -- 56

South Putnam 7 11 8 12 -- 38

Scoring

Cascade -- DuBois 15, Hart 12, Comer 6, Burch 6, Butler 5, Gates 4, Hostetler 4, Stephenson 2, Parsons 2, Collier 0, Hopper 0, Guerendo 0, Morris 0

South Putnam -- Long 17, Menke 10, Schroer 4, Carmichael 4, Clearwaters 2, Burton 1, Stewart 0, Parks 0, Grundlock 0, Freeman 0, Lesko 0

Next Game: South Putnam (1-5, 0-1 WCC) hosts Southmont Saturday night.