PLYMOUTH — It was a tough night at the office for Plymouth’s Pilgrims as they hung with a tough Adams team but couldn’t hold them off in the second half in falling 60-41.
“We had our chances, maybe not to win the game but to make it a lot closer than what it was,” said Plymouth coach Ryan Bales. “We lost our composure at key moments, didn’t get some key defensive stops, didn’t get some turnovers in key moments.”
One moment was in the games third quarter when the Pilgrims had cut the lead to eight. Adams missed their shot in that time down the floor but got the offensive rebound. The Pilgrims then turned over their possession and Adams hit a three.
“It went from eight to thirteen,” said Bales. “And it all started with a missed rebound.”
“It just really snowballed from there,” he said. “We had chances and missed opportunities. Our kids played hard but we have to play tougher and a little smarter.”
The Pilgrims hung around for the first half chipping away at big leads and keeping themselves in striking distance heading in at the half down 12. Out of the locker room, the Pilgrims began chipping deeper cutting it back to the eight-point deficit.
“When you get behind to a team like that sometimes you get out of what you do and that’s what they are really good at,” said Bales. “And they got us out of what we do.”
“Once we got into our man to man defense we had some good possessions,” he said. “We gave up way to many offensive rebounds. It’s the turnovers and the offensive boards that ultimately did us in tonight.”
Plymouth turned the ball over 17 times on the night, many of them at key moments.
Jake Reichard had 26 on the night and also led the team with seven rebounds.
“It was good to see Jake do what he did in the second half,” said Bales. “That’s really what we want him to do is to go to the basket.”
“It goes back to little things and habits,” said Bales. “We aren’t mean enough, tough enough or focused enough to trust that we have to get people out of the way. We have to be better at boxing out and overall taking care of the ball.”
Plymouth is 1-4 on the year with two games at home next week, Tuesday night against Winamac and then Friday night against Gary Roosevelt.
•ADAMS 60, PLYMOUTH 41
at Plymouth
Plymouth 8 16 27 41
Adams 16 28 44 60
Plymouth (41) — Weidner 0 2-2 2, Reichard 8 7-11 26, Hissong 2 0-0 6, Houin 0 1-3 1, Barron 1 1-2 3, Gamble 0 1-2 1, Strain 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 12-19 41.
Adams (60) — Saxton 5 0-0 10, Worsham 1 0-0 3, King 6 2-2 14, Q. Columbus 4 2-2 11, Anela 1 1-1 3, Jefferies 4 0-0 8, T. Columbus 2 0-0 4, Morgan 1 2-2 4. Totals 25 7-9 60.
