PLYMOUTH – It was back to work for Plymouth’s Pilgrims and they could do little wrong as they took a home win to start the new year at PHS over Tippecanoe Valley by a 69-57 final.

As good as Tyler England (game high 26 points) was in the first half helping his team jump out to a 33-26 halftime cushion – his team mates took up the rest out of the locker room as a huge third quarter helped the Pilgrims run away and hide for the win. As usual with the Pilgrims it was the defense that led to the offense.

“We made some adjustments,” said Plymouth coach Ryan Bales. “Some of it was positioning, some of it was ball pressure. I thought we did a better job of getting out on their shooters. In the third quarter we did a much better job and I think that led to some offensive opportunities for us.

“We had some great possessions on offense – we were able to get Tyler and Josh the ball and pounding it inside opened up our outside shooting game.”

It was outstanding defense indeed that helped the Pilgrims withstand a red hot not behind the arc by Tippy Valley. The Vikings hit on 55 percent of their three point shots led by Neil Clampitt’s 5 of 6 from three point land.

Plymouth wasn’t far behind at 45 percent behind the line. Nick Felke was 2 of 3 as just part of his strong night.

“We’ve been harping a lot on offensive execution,” said Bales. “Our team – especially in the second half – did a lot better job getting the ball – not only to the right person, but at the right time. That’s a huge key to an offense is finding a guy when he’s open.”

“Max Holloway came on and gave us great minutes, especially in the second half. Cam came out with three fouls and he came in and gave us great defense off the bench.”

Plymouth (7-3) is at Concord next week. Valley (5-5) is at Rochester.

Score By Quarters

T. Valley 10 26 39 57

Plymouth 18 33 51 69

Plymouth (69) – Barron 1 0-0 2, Eveland 3 0-0 8, Yoder 2 2-2 7, Felke 4 3-4 13, Holloway 0 0-0 0, Anders 5 1-1 11, Friar 1 0-0 2, England 12 2-5 26. Totals 28 8-12 69.

Valley (57) – Thacker 5 5-5 19, Neely 0 0-0 0, Littlejohn 2 1-3 5, O’Connor 1 0-0 2, Craig 0 0-0 0, Bussard 5 0-0 13, Clampitt 6 1-2 18, Webster 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-10 57.

3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 5-11 (Eveland, Felke 2), Valley 12-22.

Rebounds – Plymouth 21 (Anders 6), Valley (Clampitt 3)

Assists – Plymouth 8 (Felke 3), Valley 5 (Thacker 4)

Steals – Plymouth 7 (Holloway 3), Valley 6 (Thacker, Littlejohn 2).

Turnovers – Plymouth 8, Valley 7

Fouls (Fouled Out) – Plymouth 12, Valley 11