North Putnam succumbs to Bruins at sectional

North Putnam’s Zach Hedrick flies high over Tri-West’s Caleb McVickers Tuesday.
[Order this photo]

GREENCASTLE — Going into Tuesday night’s Class 2A sectional at South
Putnam, Nathan Martindale coach of the North Putnam Cougars, knew his
team was in for a tough battle.

That was an understatement. The Cougars fell to the Bruins to end their season 71-50, finishing the year with a 4-16 record.

Facing Tri-West and their one-three-one trapping defense was going to
cause problems for the offense. Through the first quarter and a half,
the Cougars looked like they had the Bruins number handling the
defense.

North led the Bruins at the end of the first quarter 15-12 and led
until the 2:54 mark of the second quarter. From that point with North
Putnam junior Jacob Lucas, sitting the bench with two fouls, the Bruins
went on a 12-3 run to end the half.

“The first half our man to man defense played real well with
them,” said Martindale. “We knew that it was going to be a tough game
because of their pressure.”

That pressure led to several turnovers against the Cougars in
the first half helping the Bruins claw their way back into the game.

The Cougars couldn’t get the deficit any lower than eight in
the second half. With time running out in the third quarter, the
Cougars made a run, but Matthew Moore of Tri-West hit a three at the
buzzer to make the margin 11 again. From there, the Bruins ran away
with the game, as the Cougars couldn’t get anything going on the
offensive end.

Things went from bad to worse as Martindale got whistled for a technical foul with 5:07 left in the fourth quarter.

“I have to give our guys credit, they never gave up,” said
Martindale. “I left the two seniors in at the end of the game because I
wanted them to enjoy their last game.”

Going into next season, Martindale said he would be losing two key players in Kyle Adams and Brock Jones.

“We feel the younger guys can step up and fill their shoes though,” he said.

Martindale said one thing his players are looking for is a
little consistency at the coaching position; he is the third coach in
three years.

“All of the players gave me everything I could ask for this year,” he said.

Leading the way for the Cougars was junior James Hedrick with 16
points, he led the way in the first half scoring 11 of the teams 24
points. Adams was close behind with 15 points for the game. They were
the only two players in double figures.

For the Bruins sophomore Tyler Waite scored 21 points on the night to lead the team.

The Bruins will face Monrovia Friday night.

*Taken from the Greencastle Banner