Pilgrims survive a battle in Bremen
By Rusty Nixon
BREMEN — The revival of a big Marshall County rivalry lived up to the billing as Plymouth was able to take a dogfight win over Bremen by a final of 51-45.
Both teams came in with opening night wins — Plymouth over a young John Glenn team and Bremen over Argos — and each showed why there is a lot of optimism for their season. Bremen jumped out to an early lead but fell behind at halftime, and in spite of runs in the second half to cut the Pilgrim’s lead weren’t able to get over the hump to get a win.
“An ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” said Plymouth coach Greg Miler. “We had some guys out at Thanksgiving break, so our shoot-around was the only time we had everybody in the gym moving forward. It’s a gritty, grimy win that come December and January in NLC, and this win is going to pay dividends for us.”
The Lions were in control of the early going, jumping to a 14-10 lead at the first quarter break behind 10 points from super sophomore Chase Devine.
“They played really well,” said Miller. “They came out and zoned us, and we attacked it from the baseline in the first half, and they did a really, really, good job, so we had to attack it from the top and cutting guys in from the top to keep two guys low.”
“The Divine kid is the real deal,” he said. “Especially for a sophomore, his center of gravity when he drives, he keeps it low so you can’t really cut him off when he gets on your hip, and then he has a really nice 15-foot mid-range pull-up, several college coaches would like coaching a player like that.”
“We want to give up tough twos, and he got a lot of tough twos and threes tonight.”
Divine ended the night with (unofficially) 31 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists.
Both teams found themselves with key players in foul trouble in the second half. Divine’s time was limited with four fouls in the third quarter along with Tyrus Graverson and Silas Laidig with three. Plymouth was limited by Preston Wolfe, Trey Delp, and Dan Nguyen with three.
It was the Plymouth bench that made a big impact on the game.
“We had guys coming off the bench, Parker Wolfe, Kylen Ellery doing exactly what they need to do,” said Miller. “When we got in foul trouble — two guys with three fouls — in the third quarter, our depth was able to keep us in that game. Just the game experience these guys got is going to help us in January.”
Plymouth’s two-headed “monster” of Kadyn Ellery and Trent VanDuyne continued to impress. Ellery posted a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, while VanDuyne put in 17 points with three boards.
“All eyes are on Kadyn, the best defenders are on Kadyn, and Trent has been able to take advantage of that,” said Miller. “Teams are going to have to make adjustments and realize that Trent VanDuyne can play too.”
Plymouth is now 2-0 and will be at home against Triton on Tuesday a game that you can hear on MAX 98.3. Bremen is 1-1 and will be at John Glenn on Friday.
•PLYMOUTH 51, BREMEN 45
(Unofficial stats)
at Bremen
Plymouth (51) — Preston Wolfe 2 0-1 6, Milliser 1 0-0 2, Delp 1 1-2 4, Kadyn Ellery 2 7-11 11, Bagley 0 0-0 0, VanDuyne 5 6-7 17, Feldman 2 0-0 4, Kylen Ellery 0 0-0 0, Parker Wolfe 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 16-23 51.
Bremen (45) — Kincaid 1 1-2 3, Divine 13 2-4 31, Graverson 2 0-0 4, Laidig 1 0-0 2, Hunsicker 2 0-0 6, Hickman 0 0-0 0, Bates 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 3-6 45.
3 Pt. FG —‚ Plymouth 6 (Preston Wolfe, VanDuyne 20, Bremen 4 (Divine 3).
Rebounds — Plymouth 25 (Kadyn Ellery 10), Bremen 24 (Laidig 6).
Assists — Plymouth 5 (Kadyn Ellery 4), Bremen 5 (Divine 2).
Steals — Plymouth 2 (Kadyn Ellery, Kylen Ellery), Bremen 3 (Kincaid, Graverson, Hunsicker)
Turnovers — Plymouth 6, Bremen 5.
