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Cougars boys' basketball team lose to Bulldogs, 54- 36
MONROVIA-- North Putnam faced the Monrovia Bulldogs boys' basketball team Friday night as Monrovia supported its homecoming crowd in the Army National Guard camouflage jerseys. The Cougars fell 54-36.
"When they got a little bit of a lead, they got it stretched out," Cougar coach Collin McCartt said. "It seemed closer than what it was. We had a hard time putting it together tonight. We missed six or seven free throws and you just can't do that. I thought we did some really good things though. I thought we made some progress."
McCartt felt the Cougars did well on defense despite the circumstances. They forced seven total turnovers. They also held the Bulldogs to 20 of 27 from the field shooting.
"We planned to mix some things up defensively tonight," McCartt said. "Monrovia's cutting offense is really hard to guard. I thought we did an exceptional job in zone during the first half. We didn't rebound as well as we should have, but I thought we did some good things on defense."
Monrovia came out in a man-to-man defense. The Bulldogs stayed in it for the duration of the game and it put pressure on the Cougars. They were forced to move the ball around, but despite the challenge North only turned the ball over 14 times.
"I thought we reacted (to man defense) pretty well," McCartt said. "We moved the ball better tonight. I thought we were doing good. I added some new things in practice this week, something I normally wouldn't do during the middle of the season, but I thought we needed to move the ball better. I think we only had three or four turnovers the first half, but we were a little sloppy in the second half. Overall, I thought we made progress tonight."
The man defense presented by the Bulldogs gave North Putnam plenty of shot opportunities. They shot 37 times, but they could only make 11.
"I think our guys are being too tight sometimes," McCartt said. "The last four minutes we probably shot 85 percent because there was no pressure. They just shot. They just relaxed and shot it. Hopefully we will take this to heart and shoot better tomorrow night (Fountain Central)."
Free throw shooting was a big part of the night for both teams. Monrovia fouled the Cougars seven times in the first quarter, so for the rest of the half the Cougars were in the bonus. They started out 8 for 10 from the line before missing their final five in the half. For the game they were 12 of 19.
On the other side of the floor the Bulldogs were 12 for 14. They missed two of their last four.
Junior Kyler Jeter led the Cougars with nine by making all four of his free throws and hitting a three in the fourth quarter, but he had to slow down because of the fourth foul he picked up with 1:16 left in the third quarter.
The game that McCartt talked about will be Saturday night at Fountain Central. Fountain Central has big team, but McCartt looks forward to the challenge.
At Monrovia
North Putnam 6 7 6 17--36
Monrovia 10 11 13 20--54
Scoring
North Putnam: Jeter 9, C. Judy 6, Hall 6, Roberts 6, Bean 5, Smith 3, Porter 1, A. Judy 0.
Monrovia: Smith 21, Eisenhut 10 Seber 8, Williams 7, Burgess 2, Davis 2, Whitaker 2, Hale 1, Seals 1, Baker 0.
Rebounds
North Putnam: Roberts 8, Bean 4, Jeter 4, Hall 4, Smith 4, C. Judy 1, A. Judy 1.
Monrovia: Seber 8, Smith 7, Williams 6, Burgess 4, Eisenhut 3,Hale 2, Seals 2, Baker 1, Whitaker 1.