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Tough Tri-West team beats South Putnam boys
LIZTON--The South Putnam boys' basketball team squared off on the road with the Tri-West Bruins Saturday night. The Bruins punished the Eagles 90-35.
During the first few minutes of the first quarter the Eagles (1-13 0-2 WCC) kept it close. They had the deficit down to two at 8-6 before the Bruins (13-1 2-0 SAG) went on a 20-4 run to close the quarter.
Tri-West used a full court press early on and the Eagles were able to break it four times and get easy shots. Trevor Long and Chad Menke each had layups.
"I thought we did a good job early of getting the ball to the middle," Eagle coach Greg Dean said. "Then we started getting slow and not moving real well against the zone. That's when it got out of hand."
When South Putnam did not faze the press, it turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter and two of those were 10 second violations. They had 29 turnovers for the game.
"A lot of those were unforced errors," Dean said. "We've got to screen better and we've got to cut better and we've got to set up those cuts. We got to constantly work at it. Sometimes we just threw it in to guys. We got to be stronger with the ball and now where good situations are."
Into the second quarter Tri-West went on a 29-6 run that led to an Eagle's timeout. Sophomore Peyton Hendershot had 15 points and 4 rebounds during that time.
Bruins' senior Trevor Waite was 12 points away at the start of the game from breaking the Tri-West all-time scoring record. With 1:20 left in the second quarter senior Connor Miller made an acrobatic pass to Waite for a lay up that set the new record. He had 14 points for the night and now has 1,293 points for his career.
Adam Bontreger, coach of the Bruins, made the decision to rest four of his starters for the whole second half after entering up by 35, 49-14. Only Austin Brown saw some minutes in the second half.
Long had 10 of his 14 total points in the second half for the Eagles. He also had three offensive rebounds.
"Trevor is really working well inside," Dean said. "We did a lot of work today with post guys and trying to make moves to the basket. That's one of our strengths right now. When we can get possessions where we can get shots a lot of those possessions are coming in the paint."
Cameron Cole also scored 10 points off the bench for the Bruins. Nick Sprecher also had eight points.
A solid roster of size with only two players being under six feet tall is what the Eagles had to face. In return they were doubled up in rebounds, 34-17. Tri-West also had 11 offensive rebounds.
"I think their (Tri-West) length and athleticism will affect just about everybody," Dean said. "They're not head toppers, but they've got six-four guys and six-five guys, but they're all athletic and skilled. They can handle the basketball. They use the speed and skill well both offensively and defensively."
South Putnam's next game will be Jan. 30 at Cloverdale.
At Tri-West
South Putnam 10 4 10 11--35
Tri-West 28 21 24 17--90
Scoring
South Putnam: Long 5-10 4-4 14, Menke 2-7 2-6 6, Carmichael 2-5 0-1 4, Schroer 1-7 2-2 4, Grundlock 1-3 1-4 3, Lesko 1-1 0-0 2, Stewart 1-5 0-0 2, Clearwaters 0-0 0-0, McHugh 0-1 0-0 0.
Tri-West: Hendershot 6-8 3-3 15, Waite 6-12 0-0 14, Cole 4-6 2-3 10, Wlson 3-6 3-3 9, Brown 3-4 2-2 8, Sprecher 3-5 2-3 8, Rutherford 2-2 2-2 7, Miller 3-3 0-0 6, Grubbs 2-4 0-1 5, Hill 1-5 2-2 4, Rabe 1-4 0-0 2, Watson 1-4 0-1 2.
Rebounding
South Putnam (4 OFF 17 TOT): Menke 5, Long 4, Clearwaters 3, Grundlock 3, Carmichael 2, Stewart 2.
Tri-West (11 OFF 34 TOT): Brown 5, Waite 5, Hendershot 4, Hill 4, Sprecher 4,Rabe 3, Wilson 3, Grubbs 2, Watson 2,Miller 1, Rutherford 1.