Strong second half propels North Putnam past Cloverdale

North Putnam's Isaac Pickel prepares to go up for a first-quarter bucket Thursday night, two of his 11 points in the Cougars' win over Cloverdale.

Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

BAINBRIDGE – North Putnam shot out to a double-digit lead after a quarter of play Thursday night against Cloverdale.

Twice, the visitors pulled the deficit down to a single possession but once the Cougars ramped up in the second half, the hosts blew away the Clovers in a 74-48 win.

North Putnam started out the night with a 14-2 run that was only broken halfway by an Eli Kelley jumper.

Jaylen Windmiller scored the first two baskets of the contest with Matt Farrington adding a layup, Brogan Woodall notching a three and additional baskets from Nolan Hackleman and Isaac Pickel completing the hot start.

Houston Jobe hit a three for Cloverdale’s only other basket of the quarter while Windmiller closed the scoring with a putback to put the Cougars ahead 16-5.

Kelley started the second quarter with a three and Levi Johnson hit two free throws following a Brady Barber basket to make it 18-10.

North Putnam’s interior size became more prominent in the second period as Pickel scored on a tap-in and added another basket around a Hackleman score in the paint to make it 24-10.

The Clovers finally fired back as Trey Schabel started an 11-0 run with a floater, followed by a three from Zack Thomas, a Kelley jumper and a free throw and three-pointer from Jobe to cut the lead to three at 24-21.

Pickel answered with a free throw and putback basket and Hackleman scored the last basket of the half with two seconds to play, giving the hosts some breathing room at 29-23 at the break.

Cloverdale cut the deficit to one after a Hackleman free throw to start the second half as Kelley and Johnson hit back-to-back treys, making it a 30-29 game.

North Putnam, having hit just a single three-pointer in the first half, found the range quickly to start the second half as Barber hit one and Kaden Helderman added two more, exploding the lead back out to double digits at 41-30.

After a Hackleman score, Jobe connected on a drive to the rim and Johnson hit a three to bring the gap down to 43-35.

The lead would never be in single digits again from there, however, as the Cougars went on a 20-2 run through the end of the third quarter to midway though the fourth quarter.

Barber scored on a putback, Windmiller hit a three and Hackleman converted a three-point play before Jobe hit a jumper for the only Clover points in the run.

Hackleman picked Jobe’s pocket before slamming the ball home and Pickel added another tap-in to end the period before Barber scored to start the final eight minutes of play.

A frustration technical on Jobe led to Hackleman hitting 3-of-4 at the line before Helderman concluded the run with a three that made it 63-37.

The pace of the game failed to yield even when reserves hit the floor as Braxton Woodall connected from deep and Christian Kramer hit a pair of treys for the Cougars while Kelley scored twice, as would Schabel, to keep the offense flowing until the final 30 seconds were finally allowed to elapse without incident.

Eight players scored in double figures on the night, four for each team, as Hackleman led all scores with 19 points, joined by a trio of players on 11 points in Windmiller, Pickel and Helderman.

Kelley scored 13 points for the Clovers in the loss, followed by Jobe on 12 points and Johnson and Schabel on 10 points each.

Scoring

Cloverdale (11-19 2FG; 7-27 3FG; 5-7 FT) — Kelley 13, Jobe 12, Johnson 10, Schabel 10, Thomas 3

North Putnam (19-39 2FG; 9-25 3FG; 9-15 FT) — Hackleman 19, Windmiller 11, Pickel 11, Helderman 11, Barber 9, Kramer 6, Bro. Woodall 3, Bra. Woodall 3, Farrington 2

Statistics