Greencastle wins attritional battle over North Putnam to hang on to Bucket

Greencastle's Sam Gooch finishes off a steal with a two-handed dunk during the third quarter of Friday night's 59-54 win over North Putnam. The win allowed the Tiger Cubs to keep hold of the Putnam County Bucket and was the first win over the Cougars in the regular season since then 2018-19 campaign.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

BAINBRIDGE – The thermometer may have been falling outside but temperatures only went up as the evening went on at North Putnam as Greencastle visited Friday night.

A fiery contest became an attritional battle in the fourth quarter as the two teams took a combined 53 foul shots, 42 coming in the second half, with the Tiger Cubs winning the regular season meeting for the first time in five years, outlasting the Cougars 59-54.

Greencastle exploded out of the blocks, hitting four threes in the opening frame, beginning with connections from Taygan McRoberts and Nathan Sutherlin for an 8-2 lead.

Sam Gooch scored twice and McRoberts hit a second three to make it 15-3 before Nolan Hackleman notched three free throws.

Anthony Adams connected from deep and a three-point play from Judah Amis had the Tiger Cubs leading 23-7 near the end of the first quarter.

Christian Kramer hit a late three to make it 23-10 after eight minutes and while Gooch scored to open the second quarter, it was the only points the visitors would score in the second period.

North Putnam slowly began to chip away at the lead as Isaac Pickel hit two free throws, Hackleman and Kaden Helderman hit threes and Pickel finished the half with a putback as the Cougars cut the gap to five at 25-20 entering halftime.

A Hackleman free throw trimmed another point off the deficit but Greencastle soon had the lead back up to 10 following a Gooch steal and dunk to make it 34-24.

Fouls had started to pile up on both sides and tempers flared up when Helderman was fouled on a drive by McRoberts, who earned a technical foul in the aftermath, giving Helderman two additional free throws to trim the gap to 34-28.

Brady Barber scored on a drive while an offensive rebound after Hackleman went 1-of-2 at the line saw the senior get two extra shots at the line, converting both to make it 35-33.

Another offensive rebound off a missed free throw allowed Hackleman to tie the game at 36-36 as the horn sounded after three quarters of play.

Connor Sullivan hit a three to start the fourth quarter for the Tiger Cubs but was answered by a three-point play from Helderman.

Sutherlin and Helderman traded baskets before the former hit a three and added a floater while Gooch scored to make it 48-43.

Gooch added two free throws off a steal while Cody Evans scored his only point of the night at the line and Amis scored in the post to push the lead to seven at 53-46.

Hackleman added a three-point play off a goaltending call to shrink the gap to 54-52 while Gooch and Pickel traded off free throws to make it 56-54.

Sutherlin sank two more crucial free throws and the Cougars couldn’t find a late basket to give themselves one last chance as the Tiger Cubs retained the Bucket, winning a non-Putnam County Classic meeting for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

Scoring

Greencastle (12-18 2FG; 7-17 3FG; 14-24 FT) — Gooch 18, Sutherlin 17, McRoberts 6, Sullivan 6, Amis 6, Adams 5, Evans 1

North Putnam (11-22 2FG; 4-17 3FG; 20-29 FT) — Hackleman 23, Helderman 12, Pickel 10, Barber 3, Kramer 3, Windmiller 3

Statistics