Boys basketball: Seneca regroups to take TCC tilt with Putnam County

GRANVILLE – The Seneca Fighting Irish used a big second half to erase a nine-point halftime lead by host Putnam County en route to a 58-51 boys basketball victory Friday nighty.

“We were a starter down in the first quarter, and another couple guys had to fight through some injuries, but we stayed composed and played a lot better in the second half,” Seneca coach Russ Witte said. “I thought a big key was in the first half we gave up a lot of second shots to them and in the second half we owned the boards.

“I’ve known [Putnam County coach] Harold Fay a long time, and I knew they would come out and play tough defense, and we had to make some adjustments in the second half. This is a big win in a tough place to play; it was our first real test of the season, and we responded pretty well.”

The game began with the Panthers jumping out to an 11-0 lead powered by Jackson McDonald, who had six early points, and Austin Mattingly (13 points), who added a 3-pointer before Seneca got on the board via a Paxton Giertz layup.

McDonald added four more of his game-high 22 points, and PC’s Wyatt Grimshaw hit a jumper before the Irish responded with a three-point play from Giertz (team-high 19 points) to make the score 17-7 after the first quarter.

PC started the second quarter with another flourish, getting five quick points from Mattingly and a bucket from Grimshaw to build a 24-7 lead. But the Irish didn’t panic and began to chip away at the lead with Cole Vipond (12 points) draining a long 3 and Gietz a pull-up jumper to cut the lead to 10.

The teams traded hoops for the rest of the half. Seneca’s Kysen Klinker led the way with a pair of jumpers, and the teams headed to the locker room for the halftime break with PC holding a 30-21 advantage.

The second half began with a pair of McDonald layups before the Irish went on a 12-2 run, getting seven points from Calvin Maierhofer (16 points) and three from Josh Lucas, and suddenly the Irish had taken a 39-38 lead with a minute left in the third quarter. The Irish were not done, as they scored four of the last six points to build their biggest lead of the game to that point at 43-40.

The fourth quarter began with the teams exchanging points before Seneca inched away on a three-point play by Maierhofer to build the lead to five. But a free throw from Grimshaw and a clutch 3-pointer from Andrew Pyszka tightened the score to 52-51 with two minutes left.

But that was as close as the home team would get as the Irish ran off the final six points to close out the game.

“We played good defense and ran the offense well in the first half and we really rebounded well and got some second chance points,” Fay said. “But in the second half, I don’t know if we got a little tired or something, but we just didn’t rebound as well. We knew they were going to make it close at the end and they did.”