PLYMOUTH – Friday the 13th certainly held no luck for Plymouth’s Pilgrims as they struggled to find anything positive in falling to Concord by a final of 62-47.
The Minutemen jumped out to a 12-0 lead and never looked back in taking their first NLCwin of the year as Plymouth fell to 0-3 in conference play. The Pilgrims were able to cut the lead to single digits with about 3:30 to play but that would be short lived as Concord had the advantage back to 15 just a few possessions later.
“Concord did an outstanding job,” said Plymouth head coach Ryan Bales. “I was really impressed with their discipline and their execution. We talked before the game that we would have to be the more disciplined team to win and the more disciplined team won tonight. It was Concord.”
That discipline showed in a stifling half court zone defense that seemed to have the Pilgrims on their heels from the very start of the game. Cedric Mitchell seemed to be near every rebound and a couple of quick three’s by Brandon Emerick and Concord never looked back. Plymouth struggled to find any way to attack the Minuteman zone.
“We worked all week on zone offense but the length they bring and the atleticism they bring to that defense is tough,” said Bales. “They aren’t just going to sit back and let you do what you want to do. They were able to get into the passing lanes and cause some havoc. We had moments where we tried to dribble too much against it, we weren’t passing at the right time when we had a guy open. We just didn’t execute.”
One “zone buster” was a 6 of 13 night from Clay Hilliard from behind the three point line. Hilliard led all scorers with 20 points in a hot night from the floor.
Another player having a hot night was the big man in the middle for Concord Grant Magnuson. The Pilgrims had no answer for him inside as he was able to hit for 15 points.
“He killeld us,” said Bales. “He’s improved tremendously from last year. Give him a lot of credit, he got into the spots he wanted to on the floor and they did a good job of getting him the ball in those spots.”
Offensive rebounding again was a problem with Concord able to pull down five offensive boards in the first quarter alone and ended the night with 10 of their 30 boards on the offensive glass.
Concord was able to force 8 first half turnovers as well. The Pilgrims were able to tighten it up committing just 3 in the second half but carelessness with the ball and the weight of the offensive boards early was too much to overcome.
Concord is now 5-6 on the season, Plymouth is 8-5 with a game Saturday night against LaPorte.
Score by Quarters
Plymouth 8 16 35 47
Concord 16 32 45 62.
Plymouth (47) – Benji Nixon 0 0-0 0, Clay Hilliard 7 0-0 20, Cam Dennie 3 2-2 8, Ryan Carmichael 1 0-0 2, Nick Felke 2 2-2 7, Nathan Patterson 2 0-0 4, Travis Owen 2 0-0 4, Dyllon Pavey 0 0-0 0, Cole Filson 1 0-0 2, Payton Skirvin 0 0-0 0, Tyler Games 0 0-0 0, Garrett Tharp 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 4-6 47.
Concord (62) – Brandon Emerick 6 0-0 14, Cedric Mitchell 5 0-2 10, Anthony Kyle 0 0-0 0, Denzel Haliburton 2 3-4 7, Luke Shoemaker 0 0-0 0, Grant Lucchese 1 0-0 2, Marvell Danner 1 0-0 2, Nthan Hermon 1 0-0 2, Michael Johnson 2 4-5 8, Matt Auger 0 2-2 2, Jacob Yoder 0 0-0 0, Grant Magnuson 6 3-5 62.
3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 7-28 (Hilliard 6), Concord 2-8 (Emerick 2).
Rebounds – Plymouth 21 (Carmichael 4), Concord 30 (Emerick, Mitchell 6).
Assists – Plymouth 13 (Felke 4), Concord 16 (Mitchell 5).
Steals – Plymouth 5 (Felke 2), Concord 5 (Mitchell 3).
Turnovers – Plymouth 9, Concord 11.
Fouls (Fouled Out) – Plymouth 17, Concord 9.
