PLYMOUTH — Poor starts at the beginning of both halves made for a long night on the road in the NLC for the Goshen Redskins.

The host Plymouth Pilgrims opened the first period by going on a 7-0 and began the third with a 9-2 run on the way to a 59-34 league victory.

“We didn’t handle Plymouth’s pressure defense very well,” Goshen coach Brian Bechtel said. “We saw the same type of pressure Tuesday at Mishawaka and handled it. Tonight we couldn’t.”

The Redskins turned the ball over 14 times in the contest.

“Once (5-6 freshman) Brady Bechtel adjusted to the speed of the game he was better,” coach Bechtel said. “But we have got to find other ball handlers. The scouting report on us is we only have one guy that can handle the ball.”

Goshen had problems defending Plymouth’s 6-9 junior center Mack Mercer who tossed in game-high 22 points. He was 7-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range and 6-of-8 at the free-throw line. He also pulled down 11 rebounds.

“When you have a 6-9 guy playing underneath you can take some chances outside,” Bechtel said.

The Pilgrims turned that 7-0 start into an 18-8 lead at then end of the opening period. Goshen got back on track in the second quarter. Six-five sophomore Austin Woolett kicked things off with a free throw and followed with a basket at 6:02. Five-nine senior Austin Henke drilled a 3-pointer at 4:55 and 6-2 junior Alex Hartsough got the Redskins within three (19-16) with a basket off a pass from Brady Bechtel. The Redskins knotted the score at 19 on another trey by Henke off a nifty pass from 6-5 senior Sam Stegelmann with 1:32 left before halftime.

Plymouth took a 23-19 lead at intermission on a basket and a pair of freebies by Mercer.

“That was the turning point of the game,” Bechtel said. “We missed a couple of shots and Plymouth scored. We didn’t execute very well and Plymouth did.”

An aspect of his team that Bechtel didn’t like was the inability to stop Plymouth’s scoring runs.

“We had to call time outs to try and stop their runs. We shouldn’t have to do that,” Bechtel said. “Plymouth out played us and gave us a lesson on how to guard players, especially big ones.”

The Pilgrims carried the momentum from the end of the second period over to the third, stretching the lead to 36-23 by the 4:04 mark. The lead ballooned to 44-26 by the end of the quarter.

“Our emotions at the start of the second half were not very positive,” Bechtel said. “That is a mental toughness thing. When things are not going well someone has to step up.”

Stegelmann netted 10 points to lead the Redskins. Henke added six, 5-11 senior Jesse Good five and Hartsough four.

Goshen struggled shooting the ball. The Redskins were 12-of-41 (29.3 percent) from the field and 6-of-13 (46.2) from the charity stripe.

“Plymouth puts a lot of pressure on the ball and we rushed our shots,” Bechtel said. “We also didn’t get to the line much tonight. Part of that problem is we don’t have a lot of playmakers. We need to develop some depth and get some scoring from the guys coming off the bench.”

Plymouth was 21-of-36 shooting (58.3) and 14-of-21 (66.7) from the line.



Plymouth 59, Goshen 34

GOSHEN — Austin Henke 2-4 0-0 6, Sam Stegelmann 3-11 3-6 10, Austin Woolett 1-4 1-2 3, Brady Bechtel 1-6 0-0 2, Jesse Good 2-3 0-2 5, Jack Gingerich 0-1 0-0 0, Cristian Barron 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Hartsough 2-5 0-0 4, Derec Haynes 0-5 2-2 2, David Ambrose 0- 0-0 0, Alex Haney 1-1 0-0 2, Trevor Weldy 0-0 0-1 0. Team: 12-41 6-13 34

PLYMOUTH — Joshua Anders 0-0 0-0 0, Trenton Briles 2-5 0-1 4, Tom Felke 3-6 2-2 8, Matt Flynn 0-1 2-2 2, Ike Kastner 0-0 0-0 0, Joe Knapp 4-11 2-4 11, David Lee 5-6 0-0 10, Kyser McCrammer 0-0 0-2 0, Mack Mercer 7-7 6-8 22, Evan Parkhurst 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Stone 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Barron 0-0 2-2 2. Team: 21-36 14-21 59

Goshen    8    11    7    8    —    34

Plymouth    18    5    21    15    —    59

3-point goals: Goshen 4-18 (Henke 2-3, Good 1-2, Stegelmann 1-4, Bechtel 0-1, Gingerich 0-1, Barron 0-1, Hartsough 0-2, Haynes 0-4). Plymouth 3-8 (Mercer 2-2, Knapp 1-3, Briles 0-1, Felke 0-2).

Fouls: Goshen 15, Plymouth 15.

Turnovers: Goshen 14, Plymouth 11.

Rebounds: Goshen 23 (Stegelmann 7, Haynes 5, Woolett 3). Plymouth 26 (Mercer 11, McCrammer 4).

Assists: Goshen 9 (Good 3, Bechtel 2, Stegelmann 2). Plymouth 15 (Lee 7, McCrammer 3).

Officials: Mark Sewell, Joe Gawor, Kevin Mikesell.

Records (next games): Goshen (9-6, 3-3 NLC) hosts Wawasee Thursday. Plymouth (13-3, 3-3) visits New Prairie tonight.

JV score: Plymouth won 38-33. (Goshen: Oliver Nafziger 9, DJ Ambrose 9, Jack Gingerich 7, Alex Haney 6, Trevor Weldy 2. Plymouth: Scott Carmichael 12, Reis Yoder 6, Michael Kaser 6, Matt Flynn 6).