Late first-half run dooms SP in loss to Mounties

The South Putnam Eagles hosted a talented Southmont Mountie basketball team on Saturday night.

The Eagles, who won an emotional game on Friday night against county rival Greencastle, showed no signs of a letdown.

South competed all night, but an 11-2 run by the Mounties to close the first half doomed the Eagles to a 68-52 defeat.

“We played them even in the second half. We had that one stretch in the second quarter where they went on a run. We really competed tonight and we can look back at that one stretch to end the half,” South Putnam head coach Greg Dean said. The Eagles fell to 3-3 on the season, while Southmont improved to 5-1.

The Eagles came out and kept pace with Southmont in the first quarter. The Eagles’ Thomas Fanning hit two three-pointers late in the quarter South was down just 15-13 at the end of the quarter. Dalton Scott had five of his team-high 18 points in the quarter.

South couldn’t contain Mountie big man Kaleb Swick to start the game. The six-foot-five senior scored eight points in the quarter, including the first six of the game. Swick scored a game-high 23 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as well.

“[Swick] is big and athletic. I thought we did a pretty good job on him later in the game,” Dean said.

South made a small run in the second quarter. Allen Plunkett hit back-to-back three-pointers to close the gap to 28-24 with just over three minutes to play. Following a Mountie timeout, Southmont went on that 11-2 run to end the half and close with a 39-26 lead.

“We would love to have that last three minutes of the second quarter back so we could see what we could have done in the second half if the score was tight,” Dean said.

The Eagles continued to fight throughout the second half, but couldn’t get the margin any closer than 12 points. The outsized Eagles had problems keeping the Mounties off the offensive boards, as Southmont outrebounded the Eagles 36-24 on the game.

“We kind of lost them sometimes on broken plays and we have to better job of finding bodies and getting them blocked out,” Dean said.

The Mounties shot better than 50 percent from the field as well, were led by Swick’s 23 points. Cam Chadd scored 15 points and Justin Howard added 14 for Southmont.

Scott led the Eagles with 18 points and Allen Plunkett contributed 17 points. The Eagles hit nine-of-22 shots from behind the arc on the night.

“We believe in basketball analytics. Sometimes hitting 33 percent of your three-point shots is as good or better than 49 percent of two-point shots. Sometimes we took that three a little too soon because we can get that shot anytime,” Dean said.

The Eagles put the county bucket on the line on Tuesday night as county rival Cloverdale comes to visit South Putnam.

SOUTHMONT (68) – Werner 2-3 1-2 6, Williams 1-4 0-0 2, Chadd 4-16 4-4 15, Van Cleave 2-3 0-1 4, Swick 10-10 2-3 23, Howard 6-10 0-0 14, Scheidler 2-5 0-0 4, Cassida 0-0 0-0 0, Glancy 0-0 0-0 0, Easter 0-0 0-0 -0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 FG, 7-10 FT, 68 TP.

SOUTH PUTNAM (52) – Fanning 3-7 0-0 9, Watson 1-2 0-0 3, Scott 7-14 2-2 18, Plunkett 7-22 0-0 17, Lesko 0-0 2-2 0, Arnold 1-4 1-2 3, Schnepp 0-1 0-0 0, Zeffel 0-1 0-0 0, VanSickle 0-1 0-0 0, Heavin 0-0 0-0 0.. Totals 19-52 FG, 5-6 FT, 52 TP.

Southmont 22 17 21 8 – 68

South Putnam 14 12 16 10 – 52

3-point shooting – SHS 7-23 (Werner 1-2, Williams 0-3, Chadd 3-10, Swick 1-1, Howard 2-5, Scheidler 0-2), SP 9-22 (Fanning 3-6, Watson 1-1, Scott 2-4, Plunkett 3-9, Arnold 0-2) Rebounds – SHS 36 (Werner 1, Williams 5, Chadd 6, Van Cleave 3, Swick 14, Howard 1, Glancy 1), SP 24 (Fanning 1, Watson 2, Scott 5, Plunkett 7, Arnold 2, Schnepp 1, Zeffel 3) FG Pct. – SHS 52.9, SP 36.5. FT Pct. – SHS 70.0, SP 83.3. Turnovers – SHS 12, SP 9.