Putnam County boys’ basketball split region games with Washington County and Thomson last week. The War Eagles snapped a two-game losing streak when they defeated the Golden Hawks 72-64 on Jan. 30, behind a 27-point effort from Landon Bonner.
However, Class AA’s No. 2-ranked Thomson then secured a season sweep of Putnam County with an 89-63 win on Feb. 3. The loss put the War Eagles at 14-9 overall and 5-7 in Region 4-AA play this year.
Putnam County’s win over Washington County was revenge for a 65-49 loss last month.
After dropping two straight to Westside-Augusta and Butler the previous week, Putnam County head coach LaPatrick Marshall said the Washington County game was very important to him and his team.
“That was a game we had down as a must-win for us. It gave us a chance to solidify the fourth seed (in the region) because we beat them the second time and (swept) Laney,” Marshall said. “We split with them, so (the win) gave us the tiebreaker. We can now host a region tourney game.”
Marshall said he hoped for a better defensive effort against Washington County and got it. He started two power forwards and three guards to limit his team’s opponent from scoring too many points.
Marshall pointed out that junior Bryce Brabham did a great job helping the team on the defensive end. The coach added that senior guard Messiah Walker also played well in a backup role in the win.
“We wanted to go with a bigger lineup, so we started Bryce (Brabham). He came out and played extremely well,” Marshall said. “Then Messiah (Walker) also came off the bench and played exceptionally well. He was the player of the game for us. So, that was big for us to win that game.”
Putnam County held a 34-30 lead over Washington County at the half, then led by six points going into the fourth quarter. The War Eagles also made a few key plays down the stretch to retain the lead.
Behind Bonner’s 27 points, Walker contributed 12 points and sophomore J’Mari Greene added 10 points. Junior Jaylin Harper scored eight points, while Shamar McClendon added five more.
Putnam County’s defensive effort tried to limit Washington’s leading scorer, Kamonta Durden, but the senior scored 21 points. Durden kept his team within striking distance the entire night.
However, his effort wasn’t enough. While Jusden Culpepper and Marquavian Cooper each added nine points, they couldn’t help Durden out as the War Eagles played well on the defensive end.
Marshall again bragged about the effort from Brabham, who played well down low for Putnam County.
“At the start of the season, he was a little behind the curve because he came over from football, but he’s been really busting his tail to learn the plays and know what to do,” Marshall said of Brabham. “He earned that spot, man. He earned that starting spot and more playing time. He’s real physical, he rebounds and is a force to be reckoned with around the basket. He plays great defense.”
A few days later, Thomson came into Eatonton and left with a 26-point victory over the War Eagles. The Bulldogs took advantage of Putnam County’s 28 turnovers, which led to points on the other end.
Thomson seniors Jahkiaus Jones and Daquan Young took control of the game. It also helped Thomson toward the end of the second quarter when the War Eagles started to make too many errors.
At the start of the third quarter, Thomson broke things open and built up a big lead, cruising to the win. Marshall chalked it up to turnovers leading to his team’s loss last Saturday.
“You can’t allow yourself to make mental errors, especially at the No. 2-ranked team in the state,” Marshall said. “We went from a span of being down three to going down 10 at the half. In the third quarter, we got down 14 (points). We just started turning the ball over. We did it 12 straight times.”
Putnam County closes out the regular season with winnable games against Glenn Hills and Josey. The War Eagles traveled to Glenn Hills on Tuesday (past print time) and will host Josey this Friday.
Marshall hopes his team can close out the season on a high note this week to solidify that fourth spot in the region standings.
“It’s been an up-and-down season. To be honest, we started better than what I had expected,” Marshall said. “To be a team so young, I thought we would struggle early on and then come back strong after the break. But we did it in reverse. I think we peaked a little early and then came back and took some punches. Now it’s time to see if we can fix it and turn things around this week.”