Eagles welcome back Long

Saturday, January 30, 2016
Trevor Long enjoys a good night in his Triumphant return Saturday. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)

After being down eight at the half it took a tough third quarter effort and some last-seconds heroics, but the South Putnam boys basketball team got the job done winning 42-40 over Bloomington Lighthouse Academy Saturday night.

Against North Putnam Friday night Eagle coach Greg Dean thought his team was too quick on the offensive attacks. Saturday his Eagles came out very particular about which shots they were putting up.

"We got a little better. We weren't as fast," Dean said. "We tried to control the tempo a little bit more tonight. We pounded the post better."

Pounding the ball inside was made easier for the Eagles with Trevor long on the inside to compliment the size of Jimmy Rutter and Allen Plunkett.

It was Long's first full game back with the Eagles after a short stint at the end of Friday night's game. Long's leg was broken early in football season.

"It feels great," Long said. "I'm glad to be back with the team. I was working hard in the offseason trying to get back with the leg and I'm just glad to come back and play with them. Hopefully we can build on this, keep going with the team and get some positive energy and keep up what we've been doing."

South Putnam was playing from behind early as Bloomington Lighthouse jumped into a lead early. The Eagles were taking their time and using the entire floor, waiting for space to open up before attacking the paint. As a consequence, it was a low-scoring first half filled free throws.

The Eagles went 6-12 on foul shots in the half getting the line twice as much as their opponents. The scoring was also spread out as no one Eagle dominated the score sheet. The Lions had to cover every Eagle on the floor.

At halftime, however, the Eagles were down 24-16 as the Linons made nine shots from the floor as opposed to the Eagles' four.

"We just needed to play defense harder," Plunkett said. "We needed to bump cutters as they were going into the lane. They had shot after shot after shot. But if we played defense harder we knew the offense would come."

The defensive strategy worked in the third and South Putnam began closing the gap and had BLA on the run. After scoring just 16 points in the first half SPHS scored 13 in just the third quarter while holding BLA to just five.

"The thing that impressed me the most was the way we guarded in the second half, South Putnam coach Greg Dean said. "Team-wise, it was our best defense in a while. We did so much better containing the basketball tonight. I thought we did a good job getting into the passing lanes trying to get a bit of pressure on them."

Josh Stewart made his second three of the night and Jordan Parks, Daniel Grundlock and Dalton Scott each contributed to a third quarter that tied the game at 29.

The fourth quarter was characterized by some back-and fourth basketball. The biggest deficit any team had was when Bloomington Lighthouse was up 38-35 with 3:46 left.

Once South Putnam took the lead at 39-38, the scoring stalled for two minutes until BLA made a bucket to take the lead 40-39 with 20 seconds to go.

Down just one, South Putnam began fouling to stop the clock. The Eagles failed to convert when there was just 13 seconds left in the game and still down one point, the Eagles were forced to foul.

When the Lions missed their first foul shot of a one-and-one, Rutter grabbed the rebound and gave it to Plunkett.

"Jimmy gave it to me and I didn't know how much time was left so I looked up and it was only seven seconds left," Plunkett said. "So I took like one step walking and they were yelling at me to go. I started sprinting and I didn't know what to do because they had two guys on me. I almost lost it, so I went between my legs. I didn't know how much time was left so I got a shot up and it won in."

With two defenders on him and time winding down, Plunkett took a three-pointer from the wing and he swished it, sealing the Eagle victory.

"I thought we did a ton of good things tonight," Dean said. "We got Trevor some looks in the post. We got Allen some looks in the post and Jimmy some looks. We had a ton of guys that contributed tonight. Jordan Parks came off the bench and gave us some great minutes. Daniel Grundlock did some great things and some freshmen were coming in and doing some things."

Dean, like the Eagle fans and players, was really glad to see his 6-2 senior back on the floor contributing and especially happy to see him play the way he did. Long had four rebounds on the night.

"Oh man it's so great for him to be back," Dean said. "It was big (Friday) night just to get him a sniff of some action last night and get the crowd behind him. I know that got him excited. For him to contribute the way he contributed tonight, I know it's a good feeling for him. But it's a great feeling for our team and our guys to have him back because he's a big part of what we do."

The Eagles (2-12) will next play at North Putnam (5-13) in a rematch of the Friday night game when the Cougars won 56-37.

At South Putnam

B. Lighthouse 16 8 5 11 -- 40

S. Putnam 10 6 13 13 -- 42

Eagle Scoring

15-35 (Stewart 3-3 2-2 10, Plunkett 2-7 2-2 7, Scott 3-6 1-2 7, Parks 3-5 6, Grundlock 2-3 0-2 4, Long 1-3 2-4 4, Rutter 1-3 2, Arnold 0-3 2-2 2)

3 pt shooting 3-9 (Stewart 2-2, Plunket 1-3) Reb: Long 4, Stewart 4, Scott 3, Rutter 3, Lesko 2, Parks 2, Plunkett 1, Fanning 1 Asst: Fanning 2, Long 1, Arnold 1, Scott 3 Stl: Stewart 1, Arnold 1, Rutter 1, Long 1 Blk: Plunkett 1

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