North Putnam defeats Greencastle 67-63

Monday, February 15, 2016
Duke Duff pushes the ball up the against Greencastle in the County Tournament consolation game. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)

The Putnam County Boys' Basketball Consolation game was a rematch of a game where Greencastle was 47 points beter than North Putnam. The game Saturday was nothing of the sort. North Putnam earned the win 67-63.

"I think they were more ready to play than we were," GHS coach Troy Greenlee said. "We just allowed the game situation, playing in the consolation game and we didn't come out ready to play."

North Putnam did come out setting the pace, led by Preston Porter who knocked down three threes in the first quarter.

Treyton Smith and Duke Duff also knocked down a few threes which helped the Cougars to a 29-23 first-quarter lead, after GHS led 23-22 win a minute left.

Greencastle, as ever, was led by Ryan Coble who netted 17 of the Tiger Cubs' first-quarter points.

The Cougars just used a simple game plan of shooters in the corners and allowed Treyton Smith to penetrate off a high ball screen, giving him the option of kicking the ball to a shooter or finishing himself.

"When you've got guys that have been shooting like Duke and Preston, and Treyton has been playing great," NPHS Colin McCartt said. "We haven't seen anybody that's been able to stay in front of (Smith) for a long time. They make coaches look good when you just let players make plays."

The plan was working against Greencastle, though the Tiger Cubs did manage to tie the game at 38 by haltime despite two more threes from Duke Duff.

Greencastle's J.T. Matthews and Jacob Lewis both put up four in the second quarter and Coble added seven.

The game continued to go back-and-forth with both teams stingy inside but determined to get buckets from all over the floor.

Porter had cooled down after his hot start but added a three in the third but Corbin Judy scored six via three from the floor to help North Putnam to a 14-point period.

Coble had also cooled down with North Putnam applying the pressure but GHS picked up the slack with Colin York, Zach Wilkerson and Devin Clar each making a three with Clar and Wilkerson adding another from the floor.

The Tiger Cubs went into the fourth just one point up with the score 53-52.

The final quarter mirrored the game at large. With the victory up for grabs the whole way through, stops became of vital importance.

Alex Costin nailed one from long range and Coble made a two-pointer but North Putnam had fought to a 60-58 advantage with 2:47 left.

North Putnam was fouled and made one of two before making two more. Costin made a second three but NPHS was still up 63-61 with 47 seconds left.

The Cougars managed a few stops and made the score 65-61 and made free throws to take the win when GHS began fouling.

"Our guys did a really good job on Coble in the second half," McCartt said. "He's such a great player. We were just fortunate to be in a position to win it. It takes a lot of mental toughness to lose a game like we did last night and turn around and beat a team like Greencastle who has some really good players."

North Putnam's (8-14) next and final regular season home game will be versus Covington (11-8) on Friday. Greencastle (9-10) will face Southmont (9-10) on Friday in the final regular season game at McAnally.

Consolation Game At McAnnally

N. Putnam 29 9 14 15 -- 67

Greencastle 23 15 15 10 -- 63

Cougar Scoring

Duff 21, Judy 14, Porter 14, Smith 10, Jeter 6, Judy 2

Tiger Cub Scoring

Coble 30, Matthews 8, Lewis 6, Costin 6, Clar 5, Wilkerson 5, York 3

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  • This game will go down as possibly the biggest Putnam Co T'ment upset of all time! Great game NP!

    G'castle continues to underachieve, is it time for a Coaching change?

    -- Posted by NPHS94 on Tue, Feb 16, 2016, at 8:27 AM
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