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Eagles’ growth shows up in narrow loss to Bulldogs
The South Putnam Eagle boys’ basketball team entered Friday night’s Class 2A sectional 44 matchup against the Monrovia Bulldogs as a decided underdog. The Eagles controlled the pace and executed their game plan, but came up a little short as their season ended with a 45-40 loss to the Bulldogs.
“The kids busted their tails and executed our plan. They really bought in and worked hard in preparation,” South Putnam head coach Greg Dean said.
The Eagles finished their season 6-17, but went out competing with tough athletic Bulldog team that has size, experience and has won 16 games on the year. The Eagles slowed the pace down and kept the Bulldogs in check. Neither team led by more than nine points in the game, but South couldn’t quite get the play they needed against the bigger Monrovia squad late in the game.
“They are a really good team,” Dean said. “They are big, athletic and have a lot of shooters. They also have a great guard in the (Luke) Smith kid.”
The Eagles controlled the pace in the first quarter. The patient Eagle offense worked the ball around against Monrovia’s 2-3 zone and found their shots from behind the three-point arc. The Eagles only hit 3-of-10 field goals, but all of them came from downtown and they led the game 9-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The Eagles stretched their lead out early in the second quarter. Steven Schnepp opened the quarter with a rebound basket. Then Allen Plunkett found the range with two treys sandwiched around a Thomas Fanning free throw, but the Bulldogs got hot late in the quarter.
Smith sparked a 9-0 run to end the quarter with a steal and layup. The Bulldogs then hit two three-pointers and Smith finished the half with a layup to give Monrovia a 19-18 halftime lead.
“We really did a good job moving the ball against their zone and being patient. They are a really difficult team to get to the rim against because they are so big,” Dean said.
The Eagles again took control early in a quarter. South opened the second half with 6-0 run as Plunkett again drilled a couple from long range to boost the Eagle lead to 24-19 with 5:59 left in the third quarter, but then went into a dry spell. South wouldn’t score again in the third quarter as Monrovia scored the next 10 points to lead 29-24 at the end of the quarter.
The Bulldogs abandoned the 2-3 zone in favor of a man-to-man defense to slow down the Eagles from behind the arc and try and speed the game up. It worked, as the Bulldogs not only scored the last 10 points of the quarter, but opened the fourth with a Smith trey and led 32-24 before the Eagles began chip away.
“They really began to limit Allen with their defense in second half. I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure and sticking with the game plan, though,” Dean said.
The Eagles found a second scoring option as they cut the lead to 34-30 on two Dalton Scott 3-pointers. The Eagles seemed to be in a groove, but an offensive rebound led to a broken play and Smith nailed a three-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 39-30 lead with 5:06 to play and led to an Eagle timeout.
South was outrebounded by only two (30-28) for the game, but the much bigger Bulldogs began to assert themselves on the boards in the fourth quarter, winning the rebounding edge 10-4.
“They got a big shot on broken play in the fourth quarter. Their size really bothered us at times,” Dean said.
South wouldn’t go away, though, closing the gap to 41-40 with 2:40 left. Following an Eagle timeout. Schnepp had a layup, Plunkett added a runner, then another 3-pointer. Scott added another trey, but would get no closer despite Monrovia missing three of its five free throws in the final two minutes.
Plunkett led the way for South with 20 points and Scott added 12 for the Eagles.
“I am very proud of how our kids grew throughout the season and how they executed and really played hard tonight,” Dean said. “They worked hard and prepared really well for this game. A lot of these kids have never played in a situation like a sectional semifinal game.”
SOUTH PUTNAM (40) – Fanning 0-9 1-2 1, Arnold 0-1 0-0 0, Watson 1-2 0-0 3, Scott 4-7 0-0 12, Plunkett 7-18 0-0 20, Schnepp 2-2 0-0 4, Zeffel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-39 FG, 1-2 FT, 40 TP.
MONROVIA (45) – Smith 7-18 0-1 16, Seals 1-1 0-0 3, McCloud 1-2 0-0 3, Seber 2-8 2-2 7, Newman 4-11 0-3 8, Stader 2-3 0-0 4, Cottrell 0-0 0-0 0, Sprague 1-3 0-0 2, Whitaker 1-1 0-0 2, Eller 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 FG, 2-6 FT, 45 TP.
South Putnam 9 9 6 16 – 40
Monrovia 7 12 10 16 – 45
3-point shooting – SP 11-26 (Fanning 0-6, Watson 1-2, Scott 4-5, Plunkett 6-13), MHS 5-18 (Smith 2-9, Seals 1-1, McCloud 1-2, Seber 1-4, Sprague 0-1, Eller 0-1). Rebounds – SP 28 (Fanning 2, Arnold 6, Watson 5, Scott 2, Plunkett 6, Schnepp 3 ) MHS 30 (Smith 2, McCloud 1, Seber 6, Newman 13, Stader 3, Sprague 2, Whitaker 2,) FG Pct. – SP 35.9, MHS 39.6. FT Pct. – SP 50.0, MHS 33.3. Turnovers – SP 16, MHS 7.