Great start continues as Pilgrims take big win
PLYMOUTH — Plymouth’s Pilgrims continued to feast during Thanksgiving week taking their second win to start the young season over South Bend Career Academy 80-52.
There was plenty to go around on Saturday night as Plymouth had three players in double figures (Kadyn Ellery 16, Coby Walters 18, Preston Wolfe 13).
“It’s fun to watch when they put three guys on your best players and they will pass and then they celebrate the other people,” said Plymouth head coach Joel Grindle. “What more could you ask for? It’s supposed to be fun. We’ve told our kids that. Our bench did a good job. You are happy to watch guys play and have some success. When your top dudes share, and they have fun and they care about each other and they are just as happy when their buddy scores that’s what we are looking for and it’s fun to do that.”
Plymouth came out of the box red hot, running to a 21-9 lead at the first quarter break with Walters and Trent VanDuyne leading the charge. Walters had seven points and a pair of rebounds in the frame, VanDuyne had five points.
Preston Wolfe took over in the second quarter with nine points on three straight threes. Ellery just had an overall great night with 16 and eight rebounds.
For the second time in two games, the Pilgrims came out and simply pressed down on the gas in the second half never letting off the pressure in making no doubt about the win.
“I told the guys that we want to play to our standard every possession,” said Grindle. “That’s going to be our motto. Up 30, down 30, you have to play every possession that way. I’m really happy.”
“They(SBCA) have kids that can play,” he said. “If we didn’t do what we needed to do it was going to be tough. (Kalen) Allen can flat-out score.”
The Trailblazers came out in the second half in a trapping half-court defense and looking to pick up the tempo and without missing a beat Plymouth was able to keep pace in a transition full-court game.
While the Pilgrims seemed perfectly comfortable in the transition game, their coach had a few misgivings.
“Our guys would like to do that, but that’s a little out of my box,” said Grindle with a smile. “We are trying to add a few of those things and continue to add to our toolbox and we are excited about it. I’m super proud of our team.”
Plymouth is now 2-0 on the year with a date Thursday at LaPorte.
•PLYMOUTH 80, SBCA 52
At Plymouth
Plymouth 21 44 65 80
SBCA 9 25 38 52
PLYMOUTH (80) — Wolfe 5 0-0 13, Bowling 3 1-2 7, Walters 9 0-0 18, Nguyen 3 0-0 7, Delp 1 0-0 3, Ellery 6 3-4 16, Lewandowski 0 0-0 0, VanDuyne 4 1-1 9, Feldman 0 0-0 0, Tremaine 2 0-0 6, Kylen Ellery 1 0-0 2. Totals 34 5-6 80.
SBCA (52) — Riston 0 0-0 0, Allen 6 3-4 16, Woods 1 4-5 6, Murray 4 0-0 10, Butler 0 0-0 0, Mitchell 4 0-0 8, Norman 0 0-0 0, Sutherland 0 0-0 0, Bradshaw 4 2-3 10. Totals 20 7-9 52.
Rebounds — Plymouth 28 (Ellery 8), SBCA 33 (Bradshaw, Mitchell 8).
Assists — Plymouth 8 (Bowling, Walters, Preston Wolfe 2), SBCA 0.
Steals — Plymouth 6 (Preston Wolfe 2), SBCA 2 (Mitchell, Woods).
Turnovers — Plymouth 4, SBCA 10.
