The Putnam County boys basketball team is getting its groove back at the right time of the season.
After battling injuries throughout the second half of the year, the War Eagles were finally back to full strength in Week 11 of the regular season — and the results were immediate. They turned in a dominant 3-0 week, controlling each game from start to finish.
Putnam head coach Patrick Marshall was happy to see junior guard Jeremy Banks and senior forward Zay Hargrove back on the court, noting the pair provided a much-needed spark.
“I think the main reason we’ve played so much better is because we’ve got everybody back,” Marshall said. “We’ve been able to have the competition at practice that we’re supposed to have. When we can split teams up and make practice really competitive, that carries over to how we play — and we showed that last week.”
With the roster back at full strength, the War Eagles opened the week with a 78-52 non-region win over Hephzibah before returning to region play with dominant victories against WD Mohammed, 81-57, and Utopian Academy, 79-49.
Senior guards Tamaud Woodson and Jmari Greene shared the scoring load throughout the week, and the return of Banks and Hargrove helped ease the pressure on both.
With three wins, Putnam County moved to 16-6 overall and 5-1 in region play. As the War Eagles prepare for the most important part of the season, Marshall said there is still room for improvement down the stretch.
“Our main thing that me and the coaching staff have been talking about is making sure we can control the little things we’re supposed to do — like boxing out and playing defense — and focusing on that stuff,” he said. “It’s not so much about what other teams are doing at this point because you’ve seen so much film and everybody knows each other. It’s about doing what we do best and making sure we stay consistent with it.
“We’ve been harping on doing the little stuff and continually doing the little things right, and playing the right way. Hopefully, we can see that down the stretch. If we can do those things, I think we’ll be okay.”
At the end of the day, Marshall just wants his team to peak at the right time.
“I felt like going into the Christmas break, we were playing our style of basketball. We were defending, we were doing it all,” Marshall said. “Then we hit the injury bug coming out of the holidays. We went through a stretch where we weren’t playing the right way — watching the scoreboard, playing high, and then playing at a low point — allowing teams to come back and make it a game. I think we could be getting that back now. I’m ready to see what we do this week.”
The War Eagles will host Lamar County on Wednesday after press time before traveling to Monticello on Friday to face Jasper County. They will close out the regular season next Tuesday at home against Social Circle.