BB: South Putnam Edges County Rical Cougars To Advance To Title Game Of Tourney

Reprinted courtesy of:Greencastle Banner Graphic

Saturday, December 6, 2008
By CAINE GARDNER, Sports Editor

South Putnam senior Noah Boswell scored 23 to lead the Eagles to a 67-59 victory Friday night.
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By CAINE GARDNER

Sports Editor

Blustery weather greeted the start to the Putnam County Classic Friday
night. It didn’t take long for fans trying the shake off the chill of
December to get warmed up with some hot action on the court though.

South Putnam advanced to the championship game of the Classic with their 67-59 win over North Putnam.

Like any great contest between rivals, the opening contest came
down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter and left fans on their
feet cheering as the final horn sounded.

After a hot start in the first half, it came down to the foul
line for the Eagles. They converted 18-of-25 free throws down the
stretch in the final period to come away with the win.

The first half saw the Eagles build a 16-4 lead after one and
held off a pressuring Cougar squad to take a 26-18 advantage into the
half.

Both teams came out with something to prove and laid everything
on the line. Unfortunately for North, the first half saw one player
collect three fouls, with four others taking two each into the locker
room. Both coaches commented after the game of how they were proud with
their team’s effort in the contest

“I’m proud of their effort,” Cougar head coach Brady Armstrong
said. “(It was a) rough start and that’s what beat us. You can’t get
down like that against them because they have a few more inches in the
interior. It’s just tough without Griffen Dahlstrom.” Dahlstrom is
currently out of the Cougar lineup as he nurses a sore shoulder.

Eagles’ head coach Micah Elliott echoed Armstrong’s sentiment
and singled out the start of the second half as being significant in
South Putnam’s progression as a team.

North Putnam’s Mitchell Crum shoots over Eagle teammates Cameron Chestnut and Nathan Welty in Friday’s contest.
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“I thought we played well in stretches and we played hard the whole
time. There could have been some times where we folded,” Elliott said.
“They gave us their best shot and knocked down a lot of three’s at the
beginning of the second half. Instead of just folding and panicking, I
thought we handled ourselves better.”

As Elliott indicated, the Cougars hit the court after the break and torched the nets early.

Corey Dean hit a three to get the scoring going, Mitchell Crum
added a two to keep it rolling and a three from Kyle Alcorn left no
doubt that the second half was going to be a battle. The Cougars’ 18
third quarter points equaled their total output in the first half.

The third quarter ended with essentially a five-point play by
South’s Noah Boswell. Boswell converted a shot while fouled by North’s
Scott Hunt, who protested the call and was charged with a technical.
Boswell knocked down his foul shot and the two technical shots and the
Eagles entered the fourth with a nine-point advantage.

“We wanted to run and when you have fouls you can’t run. It took away our gameplan to be honest with you,” Armstrong noted.

The Cougars outscored the Eagles 23-22 in the fourth, but Conor
Frame knocking down 10-14 in the final quarter to pace the Eagles.

Even in defeat, Armstrong saw a glimpse of what his team can be and likes what he is seeing.

“Our kids from last week to this week, in so many ways have
improved fundamentally,” Armstrong said. “We’re scoring the ball
better, we’re cutting better and they played with passion. Not proud of
the result, it’s not good enough; we’re not going to accept that
anymore.”

South Putnam collected 17 turnovers on the night, a far cry from their 34 against Edgewood in their last game.

Asked about what he is seeing out of his squad on the court,
Elliott alluded to the fact that they are beginning to understand the
offense and are making quick, decisive decisions when they present
themselves.

“Things are starting to click,” Elliot said. “You can see them
thinking out there and we need to take that thinking and turn that into
reaction and that’s going to take more than four weeks of the season.
We’ll get there. We got a lot better tonight and that’s the important
thing.”

Looking ahead to the championship game, Elliott says the Eagles
need to worry about what they do. They need to execute their gameplan
before they worry about anyone else’s.

South Putnam will face Greencastle in the championship of the
County Classic at 8 p.m. North Putnam will face Cloverdale in the
consolation game beginning at 6:30 p.m.

At Greencastle

Putnam County Classic

Game one

North Putnam 4 14 18 23 — 59

South Putnam 16 10 19 22 — 67

Individual Statistics

North Putnam — Crum 19, Alcorn 12, Dean 12, Ban 6, Adams 4, Hunt 2, Hedrick 2, Jones 2. Totals: FG 13-36 FT 19-21 TP 59.

South Putnam — Boswell 23, Frame 14, Nelson 8, Dean 7, Chestnut 6, Welty 5, Masters 2, Cash 2. Totals: FG 15-29 FT 31-42 TP 67.

3pt FG — NP (Crum 4, Dean 4, Alcorn 2), SP (Welty, Boswell).

Next game — South Putnam will face Greencastle in the championship of the County Cla