Indy area squads top Eagles, Cougars

The South Putnam Eagles ran into trouble on Saturday night at home, falling 55-30 to a talented Bethesda Christian team in a non-conference high school basketball game.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 2-2 on the young season.

“That’s a good basketball team. They are very athletic, very deep and play 10 to 12 guys. They shot the ball well,” South Putnam head coach Greg Dean said.

After falling behind 2-0, Thomas Fanning hit a three-pointer to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead, but that would be the last lead for South. The Patriots ran off 15-2 run from there and ended up closing the quarter leading 20-9.

The second quarter saw the Patriots impose their athleticism on the Eagles, outscoring the Eagles 15-5 and controlling the game both offensively and defensively. South hit just 1-of-7 from the field and turned the ball over six times. On the other end of the court, Bethesda got some open looks as Wes Rischar hit two three-pointers in scoring six of his game-high 17 points.

“We didn’t do a good job in the first half of getting out on their shooters. That just killed us and then we didn’t make shots,” Dean said.

It didn’t get any easier in the third quarter for South. The Eagles couldn’t find an answer for the pressure zone defense of the Patriots. South could only manage one field goal in the period as they again only hit 1-of-7 from the floor. Bethesda Christian forced the Eagles out on the floor by getting into the passing lanes and limiting South’s offense.

“We have to attack the gaps in that kind of defense. Especially early we didn’t do that very well. We kind of fixed it later on in the game and penetrated and got some looks. We can’t be passive and play that far out on the court.”

The Eagles found some positive things in the fourth quarter. South won the quarter 14-8, improving its attack against the zone. The Eagle guards penetrated and found Dalton Scott in the corner repeatedly, as he scored nine of his team-high 11 points in the final period.

South struggled offensively most of the night. The Eagles shot just under 30 percent from the floor and they also hit only 5-of-12 free throws on the night.

South did win the turnover battle on the evening as they only turned the ball over 18 times.

The Eagles hope to take the positives out of the game heading into next week’s conference and county game against the Greencastle Tiger Cubson Friday night.

“If you can be under 20 turnovers against a team like that you can usually do pretty well. We have a lot things we can work on going into a big county game like next week,” Dean said.

BETHESDA CHRISTIAN (55) – Steward 5-8 0-1 11, Rischar 7-12 0-0 17, Gordon 2-6 2-2 7, Hayden 1-1 0-0 2, McCurry 1-1 1-1 3, Ryans 3-7 1-2 7, Alsdorf 0-1 0-0 0, Mason 0-1 0-0 0, Stone 2-4 0-0 5, Van Soelen 0-4 3-4 3, Shafer 0-1 0-0 0, Whitehead 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 FG, 7-10 FT, 55 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (30) – Schnepp 0-2 0-0 0, Fanning 3-7 0-3 8, Plunkett 1-14 3-6 5, Arnold 0-2 0-1 0, Scott 4-7 2-2 11, Watson 0-0 0-0 0, Zeffel 2-4 0-0 4, Lesko 1-1 0-0 2, VanSickle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-37 FG, 5-12 FT, 30 TP.

Bethesda Christia 20 15 12 8 – 55

South Putnam 9 5 2 14 – 30

3-point shooting –BC 6-18 (Stewart 1-2, Rischar 3-6, Gordon 1-3, Ryans 0-2, Stone 1-1, Van Soelen 0-3, Shafer 0-1), SP 3-14 (Fanning 2-5, Plunkett 0-5, Scott 1-1, Schnepp 0-2). Rebounds – BC 39 (Stewart 5, Rischar 6, Hayden 2, McCurry 2, Ryans 5, Alsdorf 7, Stone 2, Van Soelen 4) SP – 20 (Schnepp 2, Plunkett 4, Arnold 3, Scott 5, Lesko 1, Watson 2, Zeffel 1) FG Pct. – BC 44.7, SP 29.7. FT Pct. – BC 70.0, SP 41.7. Turnovers – BC 19, SP 18.

In other basketball:

• Brownsburg 72, North Putnam 32 — At Brownsburg, the host Bulldogs led 22-7 after the first quarter and never trailed.

Brownsburg led 39-10 at halftime and 50-21 after three periods.

Senior guard Preston Porter led the Cougars with 16 points, hitting four three pointers and adding four free throws. Elliot Gross added six points and Treyton Smith had four.

NORTH PUTNAM (32) —Smith 0 4-6 4, Porter 4 4-4 16, Gross 2 2-3 6, Judy 0 2-2 2, Duff 1 0-0 2, Mitchel 0 0-0 0, Webster 0 2-4 2, Pickel 0 0-0 0, Duncan 0 0-0 0, Hess 0 0-0 0, Kendall 0 0-0 0, Rude 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 FG, 14-19 FT, 32 TP

BROWNSBURG (72) — Alford 7 1-2 14, Jackson 0 1-2 1, Thomas 6 1-4 13, Rozzi 1 0-0 3, Baker 2 1-2 5, Trammer 0 0-1 0, Parath 0 0-0 0, Roffeitt 0 0-0 0, Craig 0 0-0 0, Edmonds 1 1-1 4, Hall 9 0-3 18, Wolf 2 1-1 5, Lang 1 0-0 2, Nolan 1 2-3 4, Smith 0 1-2 1. Totals 30 FG, 9-21 FT, 72 TP

North Putnam 7 3 11 11 — 32

Brownsburg 22 17 18 13 — 72

3-point goals — Porter 4, Alford, Rozzi, Edmonds.

Next game — North Putnam (0-3) hosts Eminence on Tuesday.