The Putnam County High School basketball program hosted two alumni games on Sunday, July 16.
The event occurred at the Eagles Nest at PCHS, with a great turnout of former War Eagles returning. Both the men’s and women’s games came down to the wire with the scores being close.
According to Putnam County boys’ head coach LaPatrick Marshall, the alumni weekend was successful. The rising fourth-year coach was one of the main organizers of the event for Putnam County.
Marshall said it was “great to see” so many former War Eagle and Lady War Eagles return on Sunday.
“It was my second year doing it here [at Putnam County]. It was big. It was very successful,” Marshall said. “It was the first time we had a DJ here, and we had 30 alumni cheerleaders participating. A lot of the community came out. Both the men’s and women’s games were very close.”
The women’s game featured the program’s top two leading scorers in Ta’Keirra Gibson (1,980 points) and Jashanti Simmons (1,541 points), who scored all of hers in three years at Putnam County.
They each put on a clinic, with many other former Lady War Eagles in a contest that came down to a last-second 3-point attempt that didn’t go in. Team A prevailed over Team B 39-37 to start out the day.
“That was huge right there,” Marshall said of the women’s game. “I have done this at my previous schools and we have never seen so many participate, but that’s just a testament to how big basketball is for females here in Putnam County. I had enough women to put together two teams.”
The men’s game featured former War Eagle and current assistant coach, Nick Banks. Also, former player and current Lady War Eagles’ assistant coach David Levester played, among others.
The men’s game also went down to the wire as Team B defeated Team A 38-36. A former War Eagle missed a last-second shot to send the game to overtime.
Marshall said he even saw a few of his former players return and play in the Eagles Nest.
“We had Malik Thornton, Detravius [Tra] Smith and Michael Little. There were a few others, too We had a great time,” Marshall added. “It was great to see all those guys play again.”
Overall, the event was successful as everyone had fun participating in the fun. The crowd was interactive and the cheerleaders were loud. Community involvement was also a positive for the programs.
Marshall hopes next year’s event will be even bigger. He said he wants to add more competitions such as a 3-point and dunk contests, but also to see it grow “as much as possible” in the coming years.
“It’s one of the biggest things that I am proud to be a part of in Putnam,” Marshall said of the event. “Anything that is positive and that can bring the community together, I love it. We did that yesterday. The year before we did it, so it’s only going to get bigger and better. We don’t want basketball out of the shadow. We want [every sport] to get its shine, but underneath everything, we want to remember that Putnam [County] is a basketball place, too. So, we want to keep that motivation.”
The War Eagles were successful under Marshall during the 2022-23 season. They went 22-7 overall and entered the Class AA playoffs as a No. 2 seed from Region 4. Unfortunately, their season was cut short after a double-overtime loss to No. 2 seed Dodge County in the second round
On the other hand, the Lady War Eagles went 6-16 overall last season and missed the postseason, so they’re hoping for a quick turnaround in 2022-23. They will return a majority of their roster next year, as well as a productive rising freshmen class that won back-to-back league titles at PCMS.
“The season is right around the corner,” Marshall said. “It is going to be here before we know it.”