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Cougars defeat county rival Eagles
The WIC boys' basketball matchup between North Putnam and South Putnam Friday started out in the Cougars' favor and despite an intense third-quarter effort by the Eagles, North Putnam maintained its lead throughout, winning 56-37 on the road. The win earns North Putnam 11th in the WIC.
The game started off right for North Putnam, when Treyton Smith connected with Austin Judy for an alley-oop layup and the Cougars were off to the races.
North Putnam went up 18-8 in the first quarter behind some full-court defense and sharpshooting from the Cougars. Duke Duff, Austin Judy and Preston Porter all came out hot and all contributed to the 23-11 Cougar first quarter.
Porter nailed two threes and he also picked up two on a fastbreak, making the layup with the contact but without the foul.
"Obviously it helps when you hit a few shots," Cougar coach Colin McCartt ."That opens things up. Preston hit a few as did Austin and Duke. When they stayed in man, we spread it a little bit and we let Treyton go to work. Our start was the key because that let us do some different things offensively."
Judy knocked down two from the floor, including a three-pointer and two foul shots. Duff also added three of his game-high 15 points in the first.
"Tonight in the first half, we just allowed a lot of easy stuff," SPHS coach Geg Dean said. "It was stuff we didn't do against Monrovia last week. We didn't get out on the shooters. I think they hit five three-pointers in the first half. They got into the paint and once you get into the paint, that's the heart and soul of the defense."
South Putnam fought back and they got the most out of Allen Plunkett, who dropped all of the team's 11 first-quarter points.
North Putnam widened its lead in the second quarter, this time using the inside game more than the outside. Jeter, who was scrapping it out all night on the boards, finished with six rebounds and scored six second-half points. Duff knocked in another three and Treyton Smith, Judy and Seth Armold each added a bucket.
"(The coaches) are telling us to keep our heads up," Smith said. "A lot of teams would just throw in the towel and just wait for next season. But we aren't doing that. We've got to try and keep improving and getting more wins."
Smith dished out five assists on the night and North Putnam was up 38-17 at the half over the Eagles who only managed six points in the second, four from Josh Stewart.
"On the offensive end we were just way to quick," Dean said. "We didn't get enough reversals. We didn't value our possessions much. We were too quick with the shot. I thought into second half we worked extremely hard and gave ourselves an opportunity. But then I thought we turned it over and just didn't get enough stops in the end."
The Eagles outscored North Putnam in both the third and fourth quarters. Plunkett continued working hard on the boards and he finished with six rebounds and he, Stewart, Jimmy Rutter, Grady McHugh and Dalton Scott all added shots from the floor to cut the deficit to 10 going onto the fourth.
But Duke Duff got going again for the Cougars and he nailed a two, a three and four free throws in the fourth to help put the Eagles away.
"We told them that really they won this game in practice this week," McCartt said. "This is probably our best week in practice. I don't think I've had a team do that. I told them that at this time of the year because this is when a lot of teams hit the wall."
North Putnam (4-13) will next face Western Boone (7-8) in Roachdale Saturday night while South Putnam (1-12) will invite Bloomington Lighthouse (14-6) to play Saturday night.
At South Putnam
Eagle scoring
12-39 8-13(Plunkett 5-7 4-7 16, Scott 2-5 1-2 7, Stewart 2-5 2-2 6, Grundlock 1-1 3, Rutter 1-10 1-2 3, McHugh 1-5 2)
Three-pont shots: Scott 2-3, Plunkett 2-2, Grundlock 1-1 Reb: Plunkett 6, Grundlock 6, Stewart 3, Arnold 2, McHugh 2, Scott 2 Asst: Plunket 2, Rutter 1, Arnold 1 Stl: Plunkett 2, Stewart, Scott Blk: Scott 1
Cougar scoring
18-32 14-21 56 (Duff 4-5 4-4 15, A. Judy 3-9 3-4 10, Porter 3-9 8, Smith 1-3 2-5 4, Armold 1-1, Bean 0-0 2-2 2, C. Judy 0-4 2-2 2
Three-point shots
Duff 3-3, Porter 2-6, Judy 1-4 Reb: Jeter 6, Armold 3, Judy 3, Smith 2, Porter 2, Duff 2, Corbin 1, Duncan 1 Asst: Smith 5, C. Judy 3, A. Judy 2, Jeter 1 Stl: Jeter 2, Porter 1, Smith 1, Duff 1 Blk: Porter 1