PLYMOUTH – A win is a win they say and Plymouth’s Pilgrims came away a 62-52 winner over Concord but for all the progress the Pilgrims have made defensively their head coach still felt a little unsatisfied.

“For the game I was really not very happy with what we were doing defensively at all,” said Bales. “When they got behind they got very aggressive off the dribble They’re tough to keep in front, but we just have to get better. There are teams down the stretch that are going to attack us I thought we played too careful, kind of soft on defense – just did not have that Plymouth defense tonight.”

It was good enough for the win but not without some anxious moments as the Minutemen stepped up the full court pressure in the second half and kept within striking distance to the very end. The pressure caused a very uncharacteristic 19 turnovers for the Pilgrims.

I think it was more what we were not doing,” said Bales. “We showed when we looked down the court we had men open. Their pressure is very good, they are very athletic and I think that sometimes as a player you get caught up when you see long arms coming at you, you see athletes coming at you – when we went north/south towards the basket good things happened. When we went east/west it usually led to a turnover. It’s something we have to get better at.”

There were things that Bales was happy with namely point guard Nick Felke attacking the basket and making those around him better.

“I think Nick had a fantastic game tonight he was very aggressive,” said Bales. “He had a lot of opportunities for assists I don’t know if we win this game without him handling the ball the way he did.”

Felke ended the night with seven assists and four steals to go with 19 points on a big night. Plymouth had just four players score but those who did scored big. Josh Anders had 22 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Cam Eveland had a big night with 15 points, five rebounds and four steals. Matt Friar rounded out the scoring with six points.

“When Cam and Nick can get to the paint like that good things are going to happen,” said Bales. “If they are playing that way, at that level it’s good for our offense. (Anders) is obviously a big part of what we do. When he plays within himself he’s so much better.”

Plymouth moves to 10-3 on the year with a game tonight at LaPorte. Concord is now 4-8.

Score by Quarters

Plymouth 14 25 41 62

Concord 9 18 32 52

Concord (52) – Emerick 2 0-1 4, Mitchell 5 5-11 15, Kyle 0 0-0 0, Halliburton 3 1-1 8, Danner 1 3-5 5, Hermon 2 0-2 4, Jackson 1 0-0 2, Magnuson 5 1-2 11, Johnson 1 1-2 3. Totals 20 11-26 52.

Plymouth (62) – Neidlinger 0 0-0 0, Barron 0 0-0 0, Eveland 4 6-8 15, Carmichael 0 0-0 0, Felke 7 5-6 19, Anders 8 6-7 22, Friar 3 0-0 6. Davidson 0 0-0 0, Tharp 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 17-21 62.

3 Pt. FG – Concord 1-9 (Halliburtion), Plymouth 1-5 (Eveland).

Rebounds – Concord 15 (Mitchell 4), Plymouth 22 (Anders 8).

Assists – Concord 9 (Emerick 4), Plymouth 12 (Felke 7).

Steals – Concord 9 (Mitchell 4), Plymouth 10 (Eveland, Felke 4).

Turnovers – Concord 13, Plymouth 19.

Fouls (Fouled Out) – Concord 17 (Kyle), Plymouth 20 (Barron).