PLYMOUTH – Plymouth’s Pilgrims went down to the wire twice Friday defeating Whitko in the early morning game of the 1st Source Bank Holiday Classic by a final of 54-50 and holding on for a 55-53 win in the championship over Jimtown.
Plymouth 55, Jimtown 53
The Pilgrims used some key mistakes and forced some poor shooting from Jimtown as they held on in the final seconds to take a win over the Jimmies.
A bizarre call at the game’s end would allow Plymouth to hold on. The Pilgrims had the ball out of bounds under the Jimtown basket with 4.6 seconds left. Plymouth threw the ball the length of the floor and as Cole Filson tried to save the errant pass in bounds at the baseline the final horn sounded. After some discussion by the officials the ball was awarded to Plymouth under their own basket and the time was put back on the clock. The Pilgrims were able to inbound the ball to
Jake Reichard who was immediately fouled and missed two free throws but Jimtown was unable to get a shot off in the two seconds remaining and the Pilgrims held on.
“Overall the tournament there were a lot of close games a lot of situations that came down to the end,” said Plymouth head coach Ryan Bales. “Jimtown made us work for it there’s no doubt. They showed what kind of team they are and how explosive they were in the final two minutes. We put ourselves in a position to win. I gotta give our kids a lot of credit.”
“I think the play of the game was Joe Barron hitting the layup at the end that gave us a four point lead,” said Bales. “He showed no fear went into the lane and jump stopped and made the right basketball play. At some point you got to go to the rim, you have to be aggressive and that was in a stretch where we were scrambling a little bit.”
Barron got himself free for a drive to the lane with under a minute in the game and made it a two possession game. Something that would be vitally important as Jimtown came down for a quick bucket on their next possession.
For a second straight game Plymouth defensive pressure from players off the bench was a big difference, especially from a couple of new names on the varsity roster.
“We had a lot of guys show some guts today,” said Bales. “(Ivan) Winkle and (Joe) Styers gave us some great minutes today in really their first varsity action. Adam Hunter had a good day so did (Thomas) Dolan and (Tim) Tremaine. Our bench deserves a lot of credit for today.”
The defensive energy paired with some key mistakes down the stretch by the Jimmies equaled the win for Plymouth.
“I really liked our enthusiasm tonight,” said Bales. “Jimtown has had a great year and you can see their no quit attitude and I just thought we had a great response to that. It’s not going to get any easier for us from here on out and that’s why I think today was so important to our mindset and our mentality.”
Clay Hilliard ended the game with 24 points and was named MVP of the tournament. Other members of the All Tourney Team were Eian Coad of Knox, Brett Sickafoose of Whitko, Austin Pearison of Jimtown and Jake Reichard of Plymouth.
Jimtown loses for just the second time this season and goes to 6-2 on the year. Plymouth is now 7-3 and takes on top 10 ranked (4A) Elkhart Memorial at home this Friday night.
Plymouth 54, Whitko 50
Whitko’s Brett Sickafoose exploded for 18 first half points as upset minded Whitko was barely turned away in a round one classic.
A sluggish start by the Wildcats turned into Sickafoose going off for a big first half shooting better than 70 percent behind the three point line. It all started with a timeout by Whitko coach Eli Henson that righted the ship in a big way.
“It’s never good when you’re coming to Plymouth to be down 8-0 so we got the time out told them to relax and after that, we started to settle in and play a little better,” said Henson. “We’re getting closer to where we want to be. We still make some mistakes here and there that are costing us games.”
Whatever Henson said turned the tide with Whitko able to claim the lead 14-12 before the quarter break.
While the Pilgrims were able to take a three point lead to the locker room it wasn’t an easy lead.
From there it would be back and forth with Plymouth turning up the defensive intensity with Pilgrims Ivan Winkle chasing Sickafoose all over the floor, and Thomas Dolan causing havoc in the passing lanes. Still Whitko wouldn’t go away and entered the final :30 in a one possession game.
A big offensive rebound off a missed free throw was a big part of win.
Sickafoose ended the game with a double/double of 27 points and 10 rebounds. Spencer Strofe was a force inside with 15 rebounds and eight points. Plymouth got 17 points from Clay Hilliard, 16 from Jake Reichard and 12 from Cole Filson. Reichard also snagged eight rebounds.
•PLYMOUTH 54, WHITKO 50
at Plymouth
Whitko 14 16 9 12 – 50
Plymouth 13, 19 10 12 – 54
Whitko (50) – Sickafoose 10 3-3 27, Ebbinghouse 2 2-5 6, Lewis 2 3-6 9, Cokl 0 0-0 0, Blaine 0 0-0 0, Rickerd 0 0-0 0, Sroufe 4 0-0 8. Totals 18 6-9 50.
Plymouth (54) – Hunter 1 0-0 3, Hilliard 6 0-0 17, Carmichael 0 0-0 0, Filson 5 2-6 12, Reichard 6 3-3 16, Tremaine 0 0-0 0, Dolan 2 0-0 4, Barron 0 0-1 0, Winkle 1 0-0 2, Styers 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-10 54.
3 Pt. FG – Whitko 8-29 (Sickafoose 4), Plymouth 7-18 (Hilliard 5).
Rebounds – Whitko 33 (Sroufe 15), Plymouth 38, (Reichard 8).
Assists – Whitko 9 (Sroufe 4), Plymouth 14 (Winkle 4).
Steals – Whitko 2 (Lewis 2), Plymouth 1 (Reichard).
Turnovers – Whitko 8, Plymouth 6.
Fouls (Fouled out) – Whitko 16, Plymouth 10.
•PLYMOUTH 55, JIMTOWN 53
at Plymouth
Plymouth 13 13 12 17 – 55
Jimtown 8 11 16 18 – 53
Plymouth (55) – Hunter 0 0-0 0, Hilliard 9 2-2 24, Carmichael 0 0-0 0, Filson 4 4-9 13, Jake Reichard 4 1-4 10, Tremain 1 0-0 3, dolan 0 0-0 0, Barron 1 1-2 3, Winkle 0 2-2 2, Styers 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 8-17 55.
Jimtown (53) – Pawlak 4 0-2 10, Pearison 8 6-7 25, Brubaker 0 0-0 0, Beck 0 0-0 0, Campbell 1 0-0 2, Phillips 3 1-2 7, Rice 2 2-2 7, Washington 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 9-13 53.
3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 9-19 (Hilliard 6), Jimtown 6-20 (Pearison 3).
Rebounds – Plymouth 26 (Barron 5), Jimtown 23 (Phillips 9).
Assists – Plymouth 17 (Filson 5), Jimtown 8 (Pearison, Phillips 2).
Steals – Plymouth 8 (Reichard 3), Jimtown 8 (Beck 3).
Turnovers – Plymouth 16, Jimtown 12.
Fouls (Fouled out) – Plymouth 14, Jimtown 12.
