Following the 2023-24 season, Putnam County High School’s (PCHS) basketball teams had several players earn All-Region honors. Neither team made the Class AA state playoffs, but the region’s coaches voted on the postseason awards last week.
War Eagles’ Landon Bonner was named to the All-Region First Team and was Region 4’s leading scorer. Bonner averaged 24.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game as a senior this year.
Putnam County head coach LaPatrick Marshall coached Bonner for the past few seasons. Marshall explained earlier this season that having Bonner on his squad helps sell tickets, and he’s fun to coach as well.
“(Landon) is worth the price of admission,” Marshall said. “When Landon gets going, it’s hard to stop him.”
Bonner was the team’s second-leading scorer as a junior behind current Georgia Southern Eagle Eren Banks. The 6-foot-1 combo guard took on a larger role as a senior in 2023-24, helping his team win 16 games.
“Landon will be missed,” Marshall said last week. “He’s such an efficient scorer. It was an honor to coach him.”
Putnam sophomore J’mari Greene was named to the All-Region Second Team. At just over 12 points per game, Greene was the only other War Eagle to average over 10 points per game for the War Eagles this season.
Marshall acknowledged last week how Greene settled into his role as the season went on.
“J’mari is such a dynamic player. He can do it all,” Marshall said. “As the year went on, he started to grow into his role as a great leader on and off the court. He did that as a sophomore. It’s great that he’ll be back next year.”
Senior Ashton Collins was named to the Region All-Academic Team, while three other War Eagles – junior Jaylin Harper, junior Kayden Solomon, and senior Messiah Walker – were honorable mentions this year.
Putnam’s season ended early in the Region 4-AA tournament. The War Eagles finished the season 16-11 overall. Next season, the War Eagles return a lot of players from this year’s team, and Marshall is happy about that.
“I’m extremely excited. We’ve got to come back and fix some of the fundamental stuff, though,” he said. “This season, as a coach, we got away from some of the core values that built this program to where it was. I’ve got to get it back to that year one mentality.
“I think we will be back. It will be a good journey and we can go far with these young guys. We’ve got the talent but need to be more disciplined and do what it takes to win.”
On the PCHS girls’ side, two players – freshman Journey Waller and senior Kamyra Aikens – earned honorable mentions. Those two helped the Lady War Eagles finish their 2023-24 campaign with a 17-9 record.
Waller was the team’s leading scorer, averaging over 15 points per game. She also averaged 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 4.2 steals.
At 14 points per game, Aikens was the team’s second-leading scorer and was the only other Lady War Eagle besides Waller to average more than 10 points per game. Aikens also scored her 1,000th point earlier this year.