Hot shooting leads Putnam County past Seneca in TCC rematch

GRANVILLE — More than two weeks ago, in their first meeting the season, the Seneca boys basketball team used a fourth-quarter rally to beat visiting Putnam County by five points.

In Saturday afternoon’s rematch at R.M. Germano Gymnasium the Panthers, who didn’t shoot well from the field Feb. 12 against the Fighting Irish, made good on 50% of their attempts, including 10 of 18 [63%] from beyond the arc.

Putnam County didn’t allow the visitors a second comeback, and despite seeing a 17-point lead sliced to nine in the final minutes the Panthers held on for a 54-45 Tri-County Conference victory over the Fighting Irish. PC improved to 7-4 overall and in the conference and Seneca fell to 6-5 in both.

“We’ve been in a little bit of a funk lately, and we haven’t been playing very well but for whatever reason we came in here this afternoon recharged,” said Putnam County coach Harold Fay. “We played hard for 32 minutes.

“We really haven’t shot the ball to our capabilities all season, to be honest. We have been getting open shots, but we just haven’t been able to knock them down on a consistent basis. We did that today.”

—  Putnam County coach Harold Fay

“In transition, both offensively and defensively, we sprinted instead of jogging. We still aren’t diving on the floor for loose balls like I’d like us to, and I’m a little disappointed with how we finished, but overall I was happy with how we played today.

“We really haven’t shot the ball to our capabilities all season, to be honest. We have been getting open shots, but we just haven’t been able to knock them down on a consistent basis. We did that today.”

Putnam County senior guard Luke Pederson hit three 3-pointers in the first half and netted 13 of his 15 points in the first 16 minutes to help stake the Panthers to a 33-17 halftime lead. Panthers’ sophomore Jackson McDonald, who made three 3s, scored seven of his game-high 17 points in the second quarter for PC. Nick Mattern added four points and Andrew Pyszka [team-high six rebounds] scored three of his eight points in the game on one of his two 3s as PC outscored the Irish 22-8 in the frame.

“[Putnam County] shot the ball extremely well today overall and knocked down 10 3s. We haven’t given up that many 3s in a game since Marquette in our second game of this season,” said Seneca coach Russell Witte, who’s team shot only 33% from the floor and 5 of 21 from deep.

“We tried to do a couple of things in our zone defense differently kind of on the fly, than in our first meeting. That first game they were setting back screens on the weak side and skipping the ball over the top. We tried to counter that today, but Harold did a good job of adjusting to what we were trying to do by going four-low and putting shooters in each corner.

“Like I told the kids after the game, when you give good shooters like No. 2 [Pederson] open shots and they see the ball go through the hoop that comfortably early, then it’s game on the rest of the game. I thought we did a much better job in the second half closing out on shooters. Our energy was pretty good, but they were still able to score all but one of their baskets from beyond the arc.

“In the first game against Putnam County at our place, they didn’t shoot well. We did the same thing here at theirs.”

Putnam County still held a 45-31 advantage after three quarters, and despite misfiring on half of its 12 free throws in the final eight minutes they didn’t allow Seneca to get any closer than the final margin.

Seneca’s Zach Pfeifer and Noah Quigley each had 12 points and three assists to lead the team. Given Sigel added 12 points, while Trey Hauch snared a game-high seven rebounds.

“We played good defense today,” Fay said. “It’s all about the effort, and we have been really preaching to the kids about giving all they can every minute on the court. It’s been a crazy season and with no postseason to really play for we are just trying to find motivation in other things. Really, that motivation is playing hard and the best we can each game.”

Both teams are back in action Tuesday. Seneca is at Woodland, while Putnam County hosts Henry-Senachwine.