PUTNAM COUNTY
After falling to Westside (Augusta) 81-63 last Friday night in the Region 4-AA championship game, Putnam County boys’ basketball enters the Class AA state playoffs as the No. 2 seed.
The War Eagles (21-6) will face No. 3 Toombs County (20-8) in the opening round on Feb. 22, at home. The Bulldogs are coming off a 55-50 victory over Vidalia last Friday.
After losing to Westside in the region title game, Putnam looks to return to the win column. The War Eagles also hope to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time under head coach LaPatrick Marshall, but Toombs County will prove to be a “tough test,” the coach acknowledged.
“They’re long, athletic. They have two guys that are 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-4,” Marshall said. “They (Toombs County) also came out of a good basketball region, so those 20 wins are 20 wins. My main thing is making sure we do what we’re supposed to do. If we are able to do that, I like our chances against anybody.”
After defeating Butler in a Class top-10 match during the region semifinals on Thursday, Putnam faced top seed and No. 1-ranked Westside in the finals the next day. The War Eagles split the regular season with the Patriots, but it just wasn’t their night Friday.
Westside led Putnam by five points at the end of the first quarter, although its offense woke up in the second. The Patriots scored 32 points to lead the War Eagles 44-27 at the half.
Putnam never recovered as Westside’s offense was unstoppable in the region title contest. The War Eagles turned the ball over numerous times and Westside just kept taking advantage of Putnam’s mistakes. The Patriots added 37 more points over the last two periods of regulation in the win.
Putnam’s leading scorer Eren Banks struggled in the loss, scoring only three points on 1-of-10 shooting. Landon Bonner picked up the pace, though, scoring a season-high 41 points.
“I think we got kind of starstruck by the moment,” Marshall said of the loss. “We didn’t start the game until 9 p.m. It was a long wait time for us and one of our starters didn’t play, Payton Ellison. So, we had to take one of our role guys, Kaleb (Crawford), and put him in the starting lineup. It threw our rotation off a little bit. Eren (Banks) also didn’t have his best game. But somebody still needed to step up and help out Landon. I would say 70 percent (of the loss) was us playing sloppily and 30 percent of what Westside did.”
Putnam will need the extra juice from its leading scorer and role players against Toombs County. The Bulldogs will be coming in with strong hopes of knocking off the War Eagles.
“We can’t do that (turn the ball over) against good teams in the playoffs,” Marshall added. “It was a good experience for us, though, and we hope to learn from it this week.”
Toombs is led by a pair of juniors, Dominic Eason and Jesus Quintero, who average 17.7 points and 11.3 points per game, respectively. Eason is also the Bulldogs’ leading rebounder at 6.7 boards per contest, followed by junior Demetrius Cutler at 6.2 per game.
In 2021-22, Toombs was 8-20 overall but made the Class AA state playoffs. However, the Bulldogs lost in the first round to Butler, which placed runner-up to Westside (Augusta) last year. So, they have improved a lot in 2022-23 under head coach Jared Goodwin.
Putnam also had a quick first-round exit during the state playoffs last season. The War Eagles lost to Woodville-Tompkins on the road 60-57 after winning 19 games in 2021-22.
However, Putnam is a lot more battle-tested this year, with four wins over top-10 Class AA teams. The War Eagles have high hopes of advancing to the second round this week.
Marshall believes the loss last season to Woodville-Tompkins will motivate his team this year.
“We’re hungry. That’s exactly what we are,” Marshall said. “The coaching staff and I are telling the guys that when we play on Wednesday, that is the state championship. We’ve got to go into every game thinking that, so there is no tomorrow. It’s about winning and advancing.”
If the War Eagles come out on top over Toombs, they will next play the winner of No. 1-seed Dodge County and No. 4 Rutland.