The Putnam County basketball team played four games over the Christmas break and performed well.
The War Eagles went 3-1 last week, bringing their record to 10-4 overall entering the new calendar year.
Putnam’s boys participated in the Basketball at the Beach tournament in St. Simons, which was held at Frederica Academy from Dec. 29-31. The War Eagles went undefeated at the tournament, defeating Groves (81-44), Calvary Day (75-72), and Sumter County (67-64) before losing to Jones County (67-64) in Gray on Jan. 3.
Putnam County blew through Groves on the first day, as four players scored double digits. Jmari Greene led with 17 points, followed by Jeremy Banks and Tamaud Woodson with 16, while Jaylen Nelson added 10.
The most anticipated game of the holiday break came on the following day against Calvary Day, ranked No. 9 in Class 3A-1A Private by SandysSpiel.com. Senior Chol Chol Deng, a 6-foot-9 forward, leads the Cavaliers.
The War Eagles struggled against opponents’ big men last season, as evidenced by their regular-season loss to Greenforest and their Class A Division I Elite Eight defeat to East Laurens. So, head coach Patrick Marshall challenged his players to limit Deng’s ability to take over a game, and it’s safe to say that he was happy with the result in the end.
“Man, it taught us a lot,” Putnam County’s coach said. “One of the reasons we went down to St. Simons was to play Calvary Day. They have a tall, athletic, big man similar to the ones at Greenforest. So, I wanted to give us an idea of what it would be like playing against a guy in the post like that before we do in a few weeks.”
Marshall thought his team did a good job of limiting Deng in the paint and being competitive for rebounds. He also said that juniors Jaden Payne and Devon Roach, both forwards, played well in the post off the bench.
“We had Jaden Payne and especially the newcomer, Devon Roach, perform well against Calvary Day. They played really well in that game, and so now, those guys give us nine or ten guys off the bench,” Marshall said. “They got elevated up. Devon started the last game for us (against Jones County) with Shamar McClendon out, so gaining that depth will add some power to our play. That’s going to help us out down the stretch.”
Greene led in scoring with 25 points, while Tamaud Woodson added 18 points. Banks contributed 17 points, and Nelson scored 11 for the War Eagles in the three-point win.
The same four Putnam County players led in scoring versus Sumter County. Greene led the way with 21 points, followed by Woodson with 19. Banks scored 14, and Nelson added 10 against the Panthers.
The War Eagles’ loss to Jones County snapped a seven-game winning streak. They had already defeated the Greyhounds 84-63 on Dec. 20, but couldn’t complete the season sweep.
Marshall said his part of the team was missing for various reasons, but that didn’t excuse the loss.
“We had some kids that had to go out of town for family reasons, and we only took nine players, but the main thing was that they played well and they came together,” Marshall said. “We gained some depth, and I was thinking everything would be okay, and then we just went against a team that I thought just wanted it a little bit more than we did.”
Marshall gave Jones County credit.
“We had a lead, then couldn't keep a lead, and Jones County just fought back and came back and made plays at the end, and we didn’t,” he added. So, sometimes it's a blessing and a curse. I still wanted to get the win, but we learned something from that game.”
Next up, Putnam County, ranked No. 1 in Class A Division I, will resume region play against Towers and McNair during the week, before facing No. 2 Commerce in a non-region matchup on Saturday.