Doing nothing spectacularly but everything efficiently, the Plymouth Pilgrims locked up a Northern Lakes Conference high school boys basketball championship Saturday night.
The Pilgrims outscored the Goshen Redskins, 28-11, over the middle two quarters to offset a draw in the first and fourth for a 57-40 triumph at the Goshen gym.
Setting screens and passing crisply, the Pilgrims shot 17-of-23 from the field over the final 24 minutes and there would be no catching up by the home team this night.
The Pilgrims are 6-0 in the NLC and all other teams have at least two losses. Plymouth finishes up its league schedule next Thursday at Warsaw.
Goshen drops to 9-6 overall and 2-4 in the NLC. The Redskins visit Wawasee in Syracuse on Thursday night and East Noble in Kendallville on Saturday afternoon (JV tipoff at 1).
GHS coach Brian Bechtel said, “We are failing to do the little things it takes to be successful.
“Everyone felt good when we had a 6-0 record, but we haven’t been taking the same approach in practice as we need to.
“I told the kids to bring their lunch pails to practice Monday. We had some tremendous practices early in the season and everyone appreciated being unbeaten.
“Plymouth is a very good basketball team. Whenever you play them, nothing is going to come easy because they don’t make mistakes and are so fundamentally sound.
“We shot the ball poorly again for the most part. Players need to rise above losing a couple games in a row. I was not upset with our effort. The kids worked hard, but just need to regain that confidence mentally.
“I feel badly for (5-10 senior) Jordan Short because he played his best game of the season. He was slashing under control and trying to attack Plymouth’s defense which was our game plan.”
Randy Davis, super 5-11 all-around senior player, was again the Plymouth standout with 18 points.
Unfortunately for the Pilgrims, he was ejected from the game after his reaction to being fouled by Short with 3:05 to play. That means he will not be able to play next week at Warsaw.
Nick Neidlinger, 6-3 senior, tallied 13 points for the Pilgrims while 6-2 senior Sam Faulstich had 10 points and seven rebounds in a relief role.
Ethan Hussey, 6-2 junior, led Goshen in scoring with 12 points while both Short and 6-1 senior Cam Snyder netted nine.
Short was also credited with two assists and two steals while 6-6 senior Nathan Stegelmann was the top rebounder with five.
Oddly, the Redskins shot 5-of-10 from the field in the middle two periods when they were outscored by 17 but only 9-of-22 in the first and fourth when team scoring was 29-29.
Goshen was again plagued by some shaky passing with those accounting for many of 12 turnovers.
The Redskins, after leading 3-0, fell behind 6-3. They then scored eight straight points for an 11-6 lead late in the first period.
Plymouth went ahead for keeps when 6-0 junior reserve Caleb Hadden hit a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 5:20 to go in the second period.
It was 21-15 at halftime and the Pilgrims steadily pulled away in the third stanza to lead 36-22 going into the fourth. The final 17-point margin was the biggest of the night.
Junior Varsity
Goshen’s JV team was dealt its first loss of the season, 46-26, by a Plymouth club which has also lost just once.
Taylor Kolbus scored nine points for Goshen, Andrew Bowers seven, Andrew Litwiller five, Scott Landis three, Brock Bender and T.J. Wright both one. Bo Davidson tallied 17 and Leneil Himes 10 for the Pilgrims.
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