Eagles can't find stops in loss to Patriots

Saturday, February 18, 2023

SPENCER – South Putnam traveled to Owen Valley on Friday night for a Western Indiana Conference high school basketball game that turned into a really good, pick-up basketball game. The two teams hoisted 60 three-pointers in a Patriot 70-62 win. The teams put together some impressive shooting, but not a lot of defensive plays.

Eagle Drew Hill caught fire and put up 37 points on the night, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 20-point run by the Patriots in the second quarter. Combine that with the Eagles’ tired legs due to a lack of depth, Owen Valley was able to improve its record to 7-14 and 5-5 in the conference. South Putnam dropped to 10-8 with a 5-4 mark in WIC play.

“We have got to do a better job defensively. We know we only have six players; (Owen Valley) knows we only have six, everyone knows and that cannot be an excuse,” South Putnam head coach Kyle Swafford said.

The Eagles jumped out to 7-2 lead early behind five points from Hill but the Patriots would rally and slowly cut the lead to one, 12-11 at the end of the first quarter.

The game, being played in the Owen Valley Middle School gym, seemed like it may give the game an old-school feel, but the energy level in the gym and on the floor did not seem to be up to par.

“We got off to an OK start. But after that start we played horrible defense. I don’t know if we were saving our energy for offense, but we did not have any defensive effort,” Swafford said.

Hill would score the first four points of the second quarter to give the Eagles a 16-11 lead, but Owen Valley would score 20-straight points, combining three-pointers and easy layups over the next five minutes to take 31-16 advantage.

Caden Gonser had nine points, coming either on three-pointers or being fouled on a three-pointer. That opened it up for four-straight layups by the Patriots until a Wyatt Mullin three-pointer and a Griffin Garner jumper late allowed the Eagles to come back a little for a 31-21 halftime deficit.

“We gave them open looks, dribble penetration. They really took advantage of our lack of defensive effort,” Swafford said.

Hill had 11 points in the first half, but really lit it up in the third quarter. The Eagles opened the quarter with a 17-6 run with Hill knocking down a trey every time you turned around. The junior hit five of his nine three-pointers in the quarter and the Eagles briefly took a 38-37 lead.

Derrek Atkinson answered with a pair of three-pointers of his own and the Patriots closed with a 13-2 run to retake a double-digit advantage at 50-40 heading into the final quarter.

“We came back in the third quarter. We took a lead, then our defense let us down again,” Swafford said.

The Eagles kept scoring keeping as Hill and Mullin knocked down shots from long-range, eventually getting the Eagles to within four points with a minute to play, but Owen Valley knocked down 5-of-6 free throws in the last minute to secure the victory.

“We scored enough points and got enough possessions to win that game. It was frustrating as our lack of defensive effort didn’t allow us to win,” Swafford said.

Gonser led the Patriots with 24 points with three other Patriots getting double figures. Atkinson had 13, Carlos Trevion 12, and Drew Kristoff had 10.

Hill had a huge night with 37 points on 13-of-30 from field and 9-of-22 from behind the arc. Mullin had 11 in support.

“I told Drew at halftime; we were going to need everything he had. He was pretty good in that second half, even got us the lead,” Swafford understated.

South Putnam129192262
Owen Valley1120192070

SOUTH PUTNAM (62) –Hill 13-30 2-4 37, Mullin 3-9 2-2 11, Bozell 2-6 0-0 5, Branam 2-2 0-0 5, Garner 2-6 0-0 4, Dorsett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 FG, 4-6 FT, 62 TP.

OWEN VALLEY (53) – Jackson 0-3 0-0 0, Trevino 3-7 6-6 12, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Kristoff 5-10 0-0 10, Gonser 7-14 5-6 24, Heckman 4-5 0-0 9, Atkinson 5-15 1-2 13, Bixler 1-3 0-0 2, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 FG, 4-6 FT, 53 TP.

3-point shooting – SP 14-36 (Hill 9-22, Mullin 3-7, Bozell 1-5, Branam 1-1, Garner 0-1) OV – 8-24 (Jackson 0-2, Trevino 0-1, Bixler 0-1, Kristoff 0-3, Gonser 5-8, Heckman 1-1, Atkinson 2-8) Rebounds – SP 29 (Hill 7, Mullin 8, Bozell 4, Garner 4, Dorsett 1) OV – 34 (Jackson 2, Trevino 7, Brown 2, Bixler 1, Kristoff 8, Gonser 3, Heckman 6, Atkinson 5) FG Pct. – SP 40.7, OV 43.9. FT Pct. – SP 66.7, OV 85.7. Turnovers – SP 14, OV 8.

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