There was excitement in last nights high school boys basketball game between the Plymouth Pilgrims and South Bend St. Joseph Indians. By nights end, the Pilgrims remained undefeated on the season with a 57-45 historic win over St. Joe.
“We tonight would have its extra challenges. The excitement of opening up a new gym, honoring former players, and the fact they were gearing up for their first game of the season. We very easily could of got caught up in the “hoop-la” but I felt we played well for four quarters”, said Coach Ryan Bales.
It was an entertaining game which included a delay when Plymouth junior Mack Mercer two handed a dunk and popped out a screw in the backboard which caused the game to be halted for around 10 minutes.
“Never seen that before”, said Bales. “But that dunk was a momentum builder for us in that third quarter. I really didn’t have a good feel about our offense tonight in general. Rebounding was disappointing. Those are things we will be working on the next couple of days leading into Peru’s game.”
Despite the offensive struggles, Plymouth shot a season high 56% for the ballgame. Plymouth shot their average from the line last night going 9/15 (60%) from the Free Throw line.
“We simply have to get better at this. We are not 62% Free Throw shooters!”, added Bales. “In close games it could come down to hitting free throws and would like to have a comfort level knowing I won’t have worry on whether we can hit a free throw.”
Mack Mercer finished with 19 points and 5 rebounds for the Pilgrims. Joe Knapp added 19 points as well.
Plymouth will end their three game road trip with a stop at Peru this Friday night. WTCA Pre-Game Show begins around 7PM. Bring your radios or iphones and tune in to am1050.com or 97.1FM inside the gym if your coming o the ballgame. Otherwise, stay home & listen to am1050!
