Banner Graphic, Volume 20, Number 152, Greencastle, Putnam County, 3 March 1990 — Page 6
THE BANNERGRAPHIC March 3,1990
A6
North-South
Free throws, defense keep Cougars rolling
• By STEVE FIELDS Banner-Graphic Sports Editor - North Putnam executed a new defense to near perfection and hit ’ 15 straight free throws in the fourth quarter Friday night to move into the championship game of the •Greencastle-IHSAA Basketball Sectional. The Cougars limited Rockville’s potent inside combination of Ron White and Eric Eslinger to just 21 points en route to the 68-53 victory in the sectional semifinals at Greencastle High School’s McAnally Center. NORTH’S COUGARS go for their first sectional championship since 1976 at 7:30 p.m. today (Saturday) against South Putnam’s Eagles at McAnally Center. The winner moves into the 11 a.m. first game of the Terre Haute Regional next week against either Terre Haute North or Terre Haute South. South Putnam, 16-5, advanced to the title game for the fifth straight year with a 61-52 victory over Cloverdale, setting up a rematch with North Putnam from this year’s Putnam County Classic championship game. The Cougars, now 10-12 overall and 4-1 on the McAnally Center floor this year, gave coach Jim Brothers something he has been looking for all season. “That was the best 32 minutes of basketball we have played all year,” Brothers said. “Now we have got to come back and do it again tomorrow night.” THE COUGARS PLAYED a new match-up defense Brothers and assistants Kevin Roy and Bill Brothers put in during Thursday night’s practice. “We watched them play two games,” Brothers said of the Rox. “When we played them in January and the other night against Greencastle and White and Eslinger got 40 or 50 points in the two games. “When those two guys get the ball in the post, they’ve played together now two years, they are very effective.” Planting 6-foot-3 Brock Barnhart, 6-3 Daniel Johnson and 6-1 Chad Wehrman in the lane around White and Eslinger and getting solid bench play from Rod Davis and Glenn Runnells, the Cougars limited the heart and soul of Rockville’s offense to just 18 shots from the floor. IT WAS MUCH LIKE the tactic Greencastle tried Wednesday when the Rox shot 63 percent from the floor. The difference was North’s guards Michael Johnson and Max Pipes did not give up open 10- to 18-foot shots to Rockville’s Jeff Paris, Mike Miller and Tony Gambaiani. The trio hit just 7-of-20 shots from the floor and the Rox shot 42 percent (25-59) for the game. And offensively, North shot 52 percent (22-42) from the floor with
No decision on redoing sites: Cato INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - ndiana High School Athletic Association Commissioner C. Eugene Cato said Friday he plans to recommend realigning the state high school basketball tournament, but nothing has been done yet. Cato denied reports that plans were ready to be implemented to realign the districts and provide for 16 sectionals per district “At this time, the proposal to go to 16 sectionals hasn’t even been discussed with our executive committee and no realignment of schools set forth,” Cato said in a prepared release distributed Friday to high schools around the state. Cato said he does plan to ask the IHSAA’s executive committee to consider dividing the state into four geographic districts instead of the current five so that each district would have about 96 schools. »♦» TOURNEY NOTES 20 years since they were created by consolidations, North Putnam and South Putnam have met only one other time in the Greencastle Sectional championship game. In 1986 South defeated North 75-66 for the title.... A proposed realignment that would put six teams in all 64 sectionals, and a 96 teams in each of the four semistate areas, would reportedly move Rockville to the South Vermillion Sectional and bring Eminence to Greencastle.
Grevnau tie-IHSAA Basketball Sectional Game Na 4 North Putnam Cougars 68 Rockville Rox 53 Cougars FG-FGA FT-FTA PF R TP D. Johnson 10-15 1-2 3 6 21 Wehman 3-5 6-6 2 4 12 Barnhart 3-7 2-2 2 8 8 Pipes 4-8 4-4 10 12 M. Johnson 2-6 7-9 0 6 12 Runnells 0-0 3-4 0 3 3 Davis 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Smith 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Godwin 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Mendenhall 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 E. Pipes 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 Spear 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Team 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Totals 22-42 23-28 8 31 68 Rox FG-FGA FT-FTA PF R TP White 4-10 0-0 4 5 8 Paris 4-8 1-5 5 4 9 Eslinger 6-12 0-0 3 6 12 Miller ' 3-8 2-2 4 4 8 Gambaiani 0-4 0-0 0 2 0 Millspaugh 3-4 0-0 4 3 6 Hany 3-7 0-0 12 6 Harden 2-6 0-0 12 4 Olson 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Jacob 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Team 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Totals 2S-S9 3-7 23 31 S 3 SCORE BY QUARTERS NORTH PUTNAM 13 26 39 68 ROCKVILLE 8 18 32 53 3-Polnt FG: North Putnam 1-5 (M. Johnson), Rockville 0-6 (Gambaiani 0-2, Hardai 0-2, White 0-I,Miller 0-1). Turnovers: North Putnam 9, Rockville 12.
its new-found patience and placed four players in double figures. Daniel Johnson led the way with 21 points, followed by Wehrman, Pipes and Michael Johnson with 12 points each. Barnhart scored eight points while pulling down a game-high eight rebounds. “We did an excellent job on the boards,” Brothers said without seeing the 31-31 draw in rebounds. “IT JUST TOOK ALL that concentration, plus when it came to stretch time, it was the best we have played all year.” A Michael Johnson layup gave North a 39-32 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Cougars doubled the margin in the first 2:54 of the period when Barnhart scored a bucket, then Michael Johnson made a steal and Pipes converted it into two with a 10-foot jumper. Down 49-35, the Rox went into a physical trapping defense. The Cougars whipped the ball around the court to give Daniel Johnson an uncontested layup and 51-37 lead with 4:33 to play. ROCKVILLE TURNED it into a free throw contest and the intensity of the Cougars’ concentration was never more obvious. North hit 15 consecutive free throws between 3:39 and 1:35 in the fourth quarter and six of them were one-and-ones. All totaled, the Cougars hit 17-of--20 free throws in the fourth quarter. Pipes, who scored in double figures for the second game in a row without hitting a three-pointer, was four-of-four at the free throw line in the period and sliced a pass inside to Daniel Johnson for two that kept the Cougars’ lead at 14 points with 2:38 to play. Four free throws by Michael
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Despite the presence of a 6-foot-4 roadblock in the person of Rockville’s Eric Eslinger, Chad Wehrman (left) delivers a baseline bounce pass for a North Putnam basket in first-half action at
finale on tap for sectional
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Fully extended to his 5-foot--10 maximum, North Putnam guard Michael Johnson onehands a rebound in front of Rockville’s Mike Miller during the Cougars’ sectional semifinal victory Friday night at McAnally Center in GreenJohnson, both one-and-ones, gave the Cougars a 18-point lead. Wehrman added two free throws to make it an even 67-47 margin with
the Greencastle sectional Friday night. Jeff Paris (20) provides further defense for the Rox, who fell to the Cougars, 68-53. (Banner-Graphic photo by Gary Goodman).
castle. Johnson had 12 points as the Cougars marched into the championship game against county rival South Putnam with a 68-53 triumph. (Banner-Graphic photo by Gary Goodman). 1:50 to play and Brothers and Rockville’s Russ Campbell gave the underclassmen some sectional time at that point.
Eagles pressured by improved Cloverdale
By MIKE BECK Banner-Graphic Sports Writer On paper Cloverdale’s 2-18 record did not seem much threat to 15-5 South Putnam, but game three of the Greencastle-IHSAA Sectional Friday night was a demonstration that the game is not decided on paper but on the floor. The Cloverdale Clovers kept coming and coming before finally losing a 61-52 decision to the defending sectional champion South Putnam Eagles. THE EAGLES NOW face the North Putnam Cougars in the rubber match of the season Saturday night with the 1990 GreencastleIHSAA Sectional crown on the line. Tip-off time is 7:30 p.m. at Greencastle High School’s McAnally Center. “I was just so impressed with Cloverdale,” South Putnam coach Kieth Puckett said. “I have never seen a bigger turnaround for a team from the beginning of the season to the end as that team. “Hey, we shot 56 percent (from the floor) and committed four turnovers. We did not play a bad game,” Puckett added. “They just played at our level and forced us to play that well to win.” Things started a little ragged for the Clovers as they managed only 3-of-8 shooting in the open stanza, along with five turnovers. THE EAGLES WERE trying to adjust their offense to the Clover defense and managed 6-of-ll shooting from the floor. By the 6:12 mark of the first quarter South led 7-1, but the Clovers played them even the rest of the quarter. South led 13-7 at the stop. “We were a little tight at the start, as expected, but we kept our composure and really came back,” Cloverdale coach Jeff Cherry said. “We ran a triangle-and-two defense to try to take (Steve) Blaydes and (Jay) Mutterspaugh out of their offense and force the other guys to take the perimeter shots. “We got what we wanted but they (Jim Collins and Damon Slaton) hit them. Brent Branneman just did a super job on Mutterspaugh.” Slaton scored 20 points and Collins netted 14, the two hitting a combined 14-of-30 shots from the floor. AIDED BY 7-OF-7 shooting from the free throw line, Cloverdale tightened the game even more in the second stanza. A three-point play by freshman Ryan Ford at the 4:12 mark cut South’s 11-point lead to 22-14 and ignited a 9-0 Cloverdale run. Jeff Bell then hit a jumper, Ford two more freebies and Branneman canned two from the free throw line. With 2:37 showing on the clock, South’s lead had dwindled to 22-20. For the remainder of the period, South’s Slaton matched the Clovers bucket for bucket, as the Eagles held on to lead at halftime, 28-24. SLATON SCORED 12 points in period two on 5-for-8 from the field and 2-of-2 at the line. Mutterspaugh was the only other Eagle to score in the quarter, hitting a three-pointer. In the first three minutes of period three, the Eagles outscored
Eagles’ Sadler selected for North-South Game
INDIANAPOLIS Jeremy Sadler, a South Putnam High School senior who tried to stop Sheridan’s Brett Law in a IHSAA Class A Football semistate game, will be blocking for him in the annual Indiana Football Coaches Association All-Star Game. The 6-5, 230-pound Sadler will play for the South All-Stars against the North All-Stars July 28 at Butler University. A TWO-YEAR STARTER, Sadler is the fifth South Putnam High School football player to be selected for the game. Previous South Putnam players selected for the benefit all-star game include Tege Lewis, Brian and Bruce Bridgewater, Tony Cash and Brian Christy. Sadler will be one of two West Central Conference players in the game. Rori Chaney, who led TriWest to the WCC title and championship game of the Class 2A state tournament, will be one of three quarterbacks South coach John Broughton, Pendleton Heights, will use. The North team will be coached by Mark Miller of Rochester.
Greenou tie-IHSAA Buketbill Sectional Game Na 3 South Putnam Eaglea <1 Cloverdale Cloven 52 Cloven FG-FGA FT-FTA PF R TP Ford 3-5 3-3 3 5 9 Furr 3-8 0-0 0 3 6 Bell 9-14 1-3 3 7 19 Sipe 3-6 1-2 2 1 8 Branneman 2-8 4-4 2 4 8 McCammon 1-4 0-0 5 0 2 Team 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 TotaU 21-45 9-12 15 21 52 Eaglea FG-FGA FT-FTA PF R TP Collins 5-8 3-3 0 1 14 Slaton 9-22 2-2 1 6 20 Sadler 1-1 0-0 4 12 Mutteispaugh 2-3 1-313 7 Blaydes 6-8 4-5 2 3 16 Robinson 0-1 0-0 110 Burdge 1-1 0-2 3 3 2 Doisett 0-0 0-0 12 0 Hallom 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Team 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 24-44 10-15 13 20 61 SCORE BY QUARTERS SOUTH PUTNAM 13 28 48 <1 CLOVERDALE 7 24 35 52 3-Polnt FG: Cloverdale 1-7 (Sipe 1-3, McCammon 0-2, Branneman 0-2), South Putnam 3-6 (Mutterspaugh 2-2, Collins 1-2, Blaydes 0-1, Robinson 0-1). Turnovers: Cloverdale 8, South Putnam 4.
the Clovers 11-1, on baskets by Jeremy Sadler, Blaydes, Collins (who also converted a free throw on the play) and Slaton, who had a rebound basket of his own miss and a perimeter jumper. The score read 39-25 at the 5:05 mark. The Eagles were ahead 48-35 at the end of the quarter, but not in as much control as the double-figure lead would indicate. “THE FIRST THREE minutes of the second half really hurt,” Cloverdale’s Cherry said. “At halftime we really emphasized that they had outscored us 19-10 in the third period of our first meeting. Still, South went out and just did a better job of executing right then, and I thought that cushion was the difference in the ball game.” The Clovers cut the lead to five on three occasions in the fourth period, 50-45, 52-47, and 54-49, with the last coming at 3:29. “We’ve got a 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter against and 2-18 team and we thought they’d get down, but they hit six of their first seven shots to open the quarter (and 7 of their first 9) to get back in our face,” Puckett said. “I’m so impressed and proud of the Cloverdale kids. I think they’ve turned things around. I’m also proud of our kids and the ball game we played.” BUT THE CLOVERS could draw no closer. “I thought the rebound basket that Burdge hit (to make it 56-49) was the back breaker,” said Puckett From there, South pretty well kept the ball in Blaydes’ hands as usual. The senior point guard had six points in the period, including 4-of-4 from the free throw line. The final points in the game, two free throws, were scored appropriately enough, by Collins, who snapped out of a shooting slump to hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor in a crucial 14-point effort. COACH CHERRY LIKED the final effort of his first season at Cloverdale. “I feel really good about the way we ended the season. We had some good senior leadership this year and we’ve got a lot of good kids coming back,” Cherry said. “I think Cloverdale basketball will be back to the level fans expect it to be.”
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JEREMY SADLER All-Star football honors
BROUGHTON’S ASSISTANT coaches on the South team are Rick Schavietello of Crawfordsville, Bob Gaddis of Indianapolis Pike (formerly of South Putnam), Richard Bryant of Richmond, Bill Harris of Springs Valley and John Mastin of Charlestown.