NP falls to Monrovia; Cubs beat Mustangs

Monday, January 16, 2017
Preston Porter (left) and Treyton Smith (right) of North Putnam battle Sam Matthews of Monrovia for a loose ball during Saturday night's game.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

MONROVIA – Monrovia used a strong third-quarter performance and a near-perfect effort at the free throw line in defeating North Putnam 58-51 on Saturday night in boys’ high school basketball action.

The Cougars led 9-8 after one quarter and increased that advantage to 16-12 late in the first half before Monrovia went on a 6-0 run to bring the score even at 18-18 going into halftime.

Elliot Gross scored nine of his game-high 22 points in the first half for the Cougars. Monrovia took a brief lead early in the third period on a Luke Seber free throw, before Preston Porter hit a trey and Gross added a free throw for a 22-19 Cougar lead.

The remainder of the period was all Bulldogs, however.

North Putnam was saddled by the foul trouble of key point guard Treyton Smith, who picked up his fourth foul of the game with 4:30 left in the third period. Smith had played sparingly in the first half and departed for about eight minutes before returning.

The Cougars committed nine turnovers in the third period and were outscored 21-13.

“There was a stretch where we didn’t make very good decisions and we threw the ball away,” NP coach Collin McCartt said. “We also missed some defensive assignments and they capitalized on them. In the fourth quarter, we didn’t switch the ball screens and Luke [Smith] hit a big three.”

The Bulldogs scored eight straight in the middle of the third period, with a Seber basket and a trey bookending the run, which also included a Max Newman basket and a Smith free throw.

A Dylan Webster trey with 29.6 left in the period brought the Cougars within three points at 34-31, but Seber hit two more free throws with 17 seconds to play and Zach Cottrell hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 39-31 cushion.

“Yeah, that’s always frustrating when you get basically a non-scorer who hits a shot like that,” McCartt said. “I thought we did a pretty solid job most of the game on Seber and Smith.”

Gross had 10 points in the final period as the Cougars, as always, refused to fold and battled to the end.

A Duke Duff trey with 1:50 left cut the lead to three again at 44-41, but Smith answered with a trey of his own.

Duff hit a basket with 30.1 seconds left and was fouled on the play, adding the free throw to make it 54-51.

North Putnam was done scoring however, and Cottrell and Seber each hit a pair of free throws in the final 28.7 seconds to seal the win.

Monrovia finished the game hitting 21 of 24 free throws, including 10 of 11 in the final period. North Putnam was even better percentage-wise, hitting 9 of 9 in the fourth quarter.

“We did hit our free throws down the stretch, but they made more plays than we did,” McCartt said.

Duff had 13 points for the Cougars and Corbin Judy added 10.

Seber paced Monrovia with 18, and Smith added 17 while Cottrell contributed 10.

McCartt admitted his team had a tough weekend with defending standout scorers Colin York of Greencastle on Friday night and Smith on Saturday.

“Smith had to work for everything he got,” McCartt said. “We didn’t want him to get streaky; he’s a really good player. This is two nights in a row we’ve seen good players like that.”

Then he was reminded of his team’s task on Thursday, when the Cougars will play a Cloverdale team with two of the state’s top scorers in Cooper Neese and Jalen Moore.

“This is kind of a ‘murderer’s row’ for us,” McCartt said. “Obviously we are going to see the best player on our schedule and one of the best players in the state. Our guys are looking forward to going down there.”

NORTH PUTNAM (51) – Gross 7-10 8-9 22, Porter 1-10 0-0 3, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Duff 4-11 3-4 13, Judy 3-9 3-4 10, Webster 1-3 0-0 3, Pickel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 FG, 14-17 FT, 51 TP

MONROVIA (58) – Smith 5-10 6-8 17, Seber 4-7 9-10 18, Newman 2-4 0-0 4, Whitaker 1-1 2-2 4, McCloud 1-3 0-0 3, Cottrell 2-2 4-4 10, Sprague 1-4 0-0 2, Stader 0-1 0-0 0, Eller 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-34 FG, 21-24 FT, 58 TP

North Putnam 9 9 13 20 – 51

Monrovia 8 10 21 19 – 58

3-point shooting – North Putnam 5-17 (Porter 1-9, Duff 2-4, Judy 1-3, Webster 1 -1), Monrovia 5-11 (Smith 1-3, Seber 1-4, McCloud 1-2, Cottrell 2-2, Eller 0-1). Turnovers – North Putnam 16, Monrovia 15.

Next game – North Putnam (5-9) plays at Cloverdale on Thursday. Monrovia improved to 6-7.

In other Saturday action:

• Greencastle 50, Edgewood 44 – At Ellettsville, the Tiger Cubs trailed Edgewood after three quarters on Saturday night but were able to come back for their second win of the season.

Edgewood led 15-11 after one quarter, and the score was tied at 25-25 at the intermission. Edgewood took a 40-39 lead into the final period.

“We talked as a team after Friday night’s loss [to North Putnam] about needing to come up with stops and scores when we needed them,” Greencastle coach Bryce Rector said. “I have to give credit to our guys because they came out and executed just that, especially after a game on Friday night that I felt we were right there, but just couldn’t finish some possessions.”

Colin York led all scorers with 23 points, including seven in the fourth period to help key the comeback effort. York hit five treys on the night.

Colin York

“Colin put us on his back and really carried us offensively in a hard-fought game,” Rector said. “Nick [Costin] was also good tonight, knocking down some shots and hitting some big free throws. Overall, offensively we let the game come to us much better.”

Costin added 10 points and was the only other Tiger Cub in double figures.

The Tiger Cubs were able to limit Edgewood scoring standout Cooper Bybee to 16 points and only one 3-pointer.

“We played an outstanding game defensively, really did a nice job on the boards and handled their pressure pretty well all night.,” Rector said. “I was pleased with our effort on Bybee all night, he’s a really solid player – maybe the best we’ve played all year.”

GREENCASTLE (50) – York 8 2-2 23, Wade 0 0-0 0. Clar 0 4-5 4, A.Costin 1 0-0 3, N.Costin 3 4-5 10, Matthews 1 0-0 2, Hutcheson 1 0-0 2, Bollman 3 0-4 6. Totals 17 FG, 8-16 FT, 50 TP

EDGEWOOD (44) – Kido 1 0-0 2, Balcam 0 0-0 0, Banister 6 0-3 12, Cowden 0 0-0 0, Bybee 5 5-6 16, Brown 2 2-3 6, Collier 0 0-0 0, Howard 2 2-4 6, Norris 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 FG, 9-16 FT, 44 TP

Greencastle 11 14 14 11 – 50

Edgewood 15 10 15 4 – 44

3-point goals – York 5, A.Costin, Bybee. Turnovers – Greencastle 13, Edgewood 14.

Next game – Greencastle (2-8) plays at South Vermillion on Friday. Edgewood fell to 9-6.

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