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Strong second half paces SP victory
Plunkett scores career high of 37
MARSHALL — Scoring a point a minute in high school basketball is not an advisable plan, but that’s where South Putnam stood after two quarters at Turkey Run on Friday night.
Trailing 27-16, the Eagles got a superhuman performance from junior Allen Plunkett in the second half to escape with a 55-45 win and improve to 2-0 on the season.
Plunkett scored 14 points in the third period and 10 more in the final quarter to finish with a career-high 37 points, hitting 12 of 19 field goal attempts and 10 of 13 at the line.
South Putnam coach Greg Dean credited his team’s second half turnaround on its ability to improve its shot selection.
“It’s a mystery of modern science in basketball,” Dean said. “When you take the right kinds of shots out of the right type offense, with reversals, dribble drives and kickouts, those threes tend to go in more often.”
The Eagles were just 2 of 16 from 3-point range in the first half, but improved on those numbers over the final two quarters.
“In the first half, we took a lot of threes after the first pass,” Dean said. “We scored 16 points and took 16 threes. We took seven twos, and hit four of those in the first half.
“It’s got to be more twos and less threes, and it has to be the right kinds of threes,” he added. “We made an effort to go high-low, inside-out from the block and tried to make them guard us down there.”
Plunkett had a subpar outing in his team’s win over Clay City last week, with his time on the court limited by foul trouble.
The 6-5 junior had 13 points in the first half on Tuesday, but really came to life in the second half.
“He took really good shots for the most part in the second half,” Dean said. “He took one three after he thought about it and looked around. I told him if he’s going to shoot it, to just shoot it. He knew he should have just gone up with it.
“I thought he was more varied in the second half,” Dean added. “He was more patient in the post with the ball. He was strong with a good base, and went to the basket strong.”
Turkey Run led 16-6 after one period before taking its 27-16 halftime lead.
Plunkett’s third-period outburst helped his team to net 22 points, more than its entire first-half total.
Plunkett hit a basket, Lane Watson added a basket plus a free throw and Plunkett added a two and a three as the Eagles cut the gap to 28-26 with 4:08 left in the third period.
Turkey Run responded with a 9-3 run to restore its eight-point lead, before the Eagles ran off the last nine points of the quarter on four Plunkett free throws, two more from Watson and a putback basket by Steven Schnepp plus a free throw.
South Putnam led 38-37 entering the final period, but quickly broke things open for good.
A Plunkett free throw, followed by a trey, gave the Eagles a five-point lead. After two Warrior free throws, Schnepp hit a trey and Plunkett added a free throw and a basket for a 48-39 lead.
Turkey Run would cut the lead back to five on a trey from Ben Lynk with 4:08 left, but the Warriors would manage just one more free throw the rest of the way.
Dean was pleased for the most part with his team’s effort defensively, but there were some gaps in its 1-3-1 zone that led to some weakside lob attempts that he didn’t like too much.
“Those are some things we have to look at on film and see where we are making mistakes,” he said. “We have to be in better position defensively.
“The good thing is that those things are fixable, but we have to make the effort to get better at it.”
The Eagles now have two days to prepare for their first double weekend of the season, as they host North Putnam on Friday and Eminence on Saturday.
“We have to go home and watch film, and get ready for our first conference game of the yaer,” he said. “We have a big week to have three games right off the bat this early. We have to keep getting better every day — with all of our fundamental skills.”
SOUTH PUTNAM (55) — Plunkett 12-19 10-13 37, Fanning 1-7 0-0 2, Schnepp 2-6 1-1 6, Watson 2-2 3-3 8, Scott 1-3 0-1 2, Arnold 0-6 0-0 0, Lesko 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-43 FG, 14-18 FT, 55 TP
TURKEY RUN (45) — Leonard 4-8 0-1 11, Hartman 1-4 1-2 3, Thurman 1-3 3-7 5, Davis 4-8 1-4 9, England 1-2 0-0 3, J.Ferguson 0-0 0-1 0, Monik 0-1 0-0 0, Lynk 4-8 1-2 12, N.Ferguson 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 15-34 FG, 8-19 FT, 45 TP
South Putnam 6 10 22 17 — 55
Turkey Run 16 11 10 8 — 45
3-point shooting — SP 5-18 (Plunkett 3-8, Fanning 0-5, Schnepp 1-4, Watson 1-1), Turkey Run 7-12 (Leonard 3-5, England 1-1, Lynk 3-6).