Boys basketball: Putnam County beats Bureau Valley, takes title at Wally Keller Invite

KEWANEE – The Bureau Valley Storm matched up with the Putnam County Panthers in both teams’ last game of the Wally Keller Invitational at Wethersfield on Saturday.

A victory for Putnam County would put them into a tie atop the tournament standings. The Panthers were able to get the job done, defeating the Storm, 49-28.

PC finished 4-1, the same as Brimfield, but the Panthers’ 58-38 win over the Trojans on the first night of the tournament proved to be the difference. PC’s lone loss came to the host Geese on Tuesday, 51-47.

“You always set a few goals, one of them was to play in a game the last night that mattered, and we were able to do that. Five games, six days, and this is the last day,” PC coach Harold Fay said.

The game started out slow as the first basket did not come until around the 5:20 mark in the first quarter when Austin Mattingly made a 3-pointer for the Panthers.

Putnam County got rolling late in the quarter as Mattingly made two more 3-pointers. Bureau Valley was held to just four points in the first and Putnam County had a 15-4 lead going into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, points were hard to come by. Landon Hulsing got going a bit for the Storm with six points, but both teams only scored eight points for the quarter. Putnam County led Bureau Valley 23-12 at the half.

Putnam County opened up the third quarter on an 8-2 run. The Storm struggled to get any baskets early and Putnam County was able to extend its lead to 35-19 at quarter’s end.

While Putnam County had already nearly put Bureau Valley away, Jackson McDonald made sure there was no chance for a comeback. He put up 10 points in the final quarter, and the Panthers coasted to a 49-28 victory.

For the Panthers, McDonald led the way in scoring with 18 points, and Mattingly had 12 points, all 3-point baskets.

The Storm’s leading scorer was Hulsing with 11.

While Bureau Valley, which finished 2-3, did not get the outcome it wanted in the final game, coach Jason Marquis was fairly pleased with the team’s performance throughout the tournament. He was big on the team’s competitiveness.

“I thought we competed really well four of the five nights. The game against Putnam County being the roughest in that category,” Marquis said. “Lots of the first few building blocks I thought were kind of there and we have to continue to take a step forward.”

McDonald, who scored his 1,000th career point during the tournament, was named as MVP of the tournament. Mattingly was also named to the all-tournament team along with Bureau Valley’s Corbin Chhim.