BB: South Putnam Captures County Title

Reprinted courtesy of: Greencastle Banner graphic

Monday, December 8, 2008
By CAINE GARDNER, Sports Editor

Cameron Chestnut (11) rises to get a piece of Justin Bartrum’s shot during Saturday’s Putnam County Classic.
[Order this photo]

South Putnam survived a 23-point fourth quarter run from the
Greencastle Tiger Cubs to capture the 2008 Putnam County Classic title
Saturday. The Eagles’ won the game 61-60 and moved to 2-2 on the
season, while GHS fell to 1-2.

Big games are defined by big moments and Saturday was no exception.
Leads faded, players made plays and the fans were treated to a knock
down, drag out battle with the championship on the line. What a way to
spend a Saturday night.

“The kids played hard,” South Putnam head coach Micah Elliott
said. “Give all the credit to the kids. They came out here and have
been waiting for this for a long time. We got a little reckless there
at the end, but we still kept our composure. I’m just happy for the
kids.”

Greencastle entered the half up five and looked to be in
control of the game, but things turned at the start of the third
quarter. The Tiger Cubs came out visibly flat and South Putnam took
advantage.

The Tiger Cubs were whistled for a technical foul at the 4:46
mark, which sparked the Eagles to go on a 9-to-1 and take control of
the game. Conor Frame scored eight points in the quarter as South
outscored Greencastle 19-7 and put the Tiger Cubs in a hole they
couldn’t overcome.

“The third quarter killed us,” GHS head coach Troy Greenlee
commented. “We had a little bit of a lead at halftime and for some
reason came out flat in the third quarter. We didn’t defend like we had
to, got down again and I told the guys after the game that we didn’t
begin to play with a sense of urgency until after we got down and you
can’t wait for that to happen.

“You can’t wait for that to happen because what happened tonight is what’s going to happen in situations like that,” he added.

Sensing the game slipping away from them, Greencastle steadied
themselves and went on a tear in the fourth, assuring that no fan would
be heading for the doors anytime soon.

Ashton Marshall scored nine points in the final quarter, with
Kyle Nobles adding six, but South Putnam knocked down shots at the line
to keep them in front.

Greencastle chiseled at the lead and after a Nobles basket,
they found themselves down just four. Two missed free throws by the
Eagles’ Cameron Chestnut gave the Tiger Cubs a little life, but time
was not on their side.

Jordan Hickam connected on a three with one second remaining, but the
horn sounded to which the South Putnam crowd exploded with fans
spilling onto the floor and some members of the team going into the
stands to partake in the celebration. The Eagles had won the Classic by
one point, 61-60.

“I’m happy for the student section — they have things to cheer
about now. They came out with great support and we really appreciate
them,” Elliott acknowledged.

When asked after the game about his team’s second half
performance, Greenlee indicated that the key to the game was the third
quarter.

“For some reason we just didn’t come out and have that
defensive intensity that we had to have,” he said. “We’re not a team
that’s not going to light people up offensively, so we weren’t able to
defend like we should have in the third and that ended up being the
difference in the game.”

He commented on how a team can’t have lapses such as that if
they want to succeed. He noted it was a team effort in games, but he’s
looking to seven individuals to help right the ship and get GHS to
where they need to be.

“I’ll tell you what, we have seven seniors on our team and I
just told them when we met in there, that they need to take ownership
of what we’re doing,” Greenlee said. “As a coach, I can only do so
much, they have to be the ones that get where we win games like this.
As coaches we do what we can, but they are the ones on the floor doing
it and they have to, again, take ownership of the team and be able to
get us playing at a higher level on both ends of the floor.

“We’re going to see what kind of leadership comes out of this,” he concluded.

A beaming Elliott stood at midcourt relishing in his team’s
victory. He’s also enjoying what he’s seeing out of his squad in just
their fourth contest together.

“We’re getting carry over from practice,” he said. “We caught
the ball, we ripped through and we were strong when we needed to be
strong. There were going to be fouls and we have to expect that down
toward the end of the game — we have to expect that. I’m just really
excited.”

In the consolation game, Cloverdale blended good shooting with
a wonderful defensive performance from Link Lovins to come away with a
66-57 win over North Putnam.

South Putnam will host Cascade, while Greencastle will host
Cloverdale this Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Cougars will host Rockville
Friday at 7:30 p.m.

At Greencastle

Putnam County Classic

Championship

South Putnam 16 9 19 17 — 61

Greencastle 18 12 7 23 — 60

Individual Statistics

South Putnam — Frame 14, Boswell 13, Welty 12, Chestnut 10, Masters 8, Dean 4. Totals: FG 20-40 FT 18-34 TP 61.

Greencastle — Marshall 22, Nobles 14, Huber 12, Hickam 6, Hutcheson 4, Harlan 25. Totals: FG 17-38 FT 18-25 TP 60.

3pt FG — GHS 6 (Huber 4, Hickam, Shuee), SP 4 (Welty 2, Chestnut, Frame

Putnam County Classic

Consolation game

Cloverdale 23 14 14 15 — 66

North Putnam 13 6 21 17 — 47

Next game — South Putnam will host Cascade, while Greencastle
will host Cloverdale this Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Cougars will host
Rockville Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Photo gallery: www.bannergraphic.com/gallery/33