BOURBON – Once again it was the story of two teams at two different places as the veteran Triton Trojans took their home opener over the young Plymouth Pilgrims 47-33.
“You have to make those little plays and their guys who have been around a long time and won a lot of games did that and our guys did not,” said Plymouth head coach Joel Grindle. “(Tyson) Yates and (Ashton) Oviedo are as good a one-two guard tandem that you will see anywhere regardless of class. You hold a team with firepower that they have to 47 points that’s something.”
Oviedo had a huge night with 14 points, five assists, and eight rebounds to lead the Trojans in those categories.
Yates battled foul trouble in the first half but ended the night with eight points and four steals.
The Pilgrim problem was once again turnovers early in the game. Plymouth had 10 in the first half seven of those in the first quarter, and 18 for the game.
“You can’t fault effort and energy tonight. Execution a little bit,” said Grindle. “To be quite honest we moved the basketball we passed the basketball, we had our turnovers at times but we got the ball in the paint and we just didn’t finish the ball around the basket. That’s stuff that has to go in.”
“If we hit a few of those layups in there in a 14 point game, maybe some plays go a different way, it makes it a different ball game.”
In spite of some trouble turning the ball over the Pilgrims hung with Triton for the first quarter trailing by just four at the break but could only manage five points in the second frame and went in at halftime down 12, with the Triton defense forced the Pilgrims into 20 percent shooting in the first half and just 27 percent for the game.
“We are capable. We are very capable of handling the ball and handling that pressure,” said Grindle. “A lot of our guys are still trying to figure out where to go, what spots to get to. It’s something that we are working on, it’s something that I feel we’ve gotten a lot better on. You can’t beat good teams without doing all the little things right.”
Easton Strain struggled to find the range early but recovered in the second half to hit for 11 points to lead Plymouth. One thing he didn’t struggle with was his play inside tallying up 11 rebounds to post a double/double for the night.
Davis Wray had seven points for Plymouth and Michael Sheely also had a big night on the boards with seven.
“We are going to figure out ways to get the ball in the basket,” said Grindle. “We have to get sharper, we have to get the right guys looks in the right spots. It’s going to come with reps and practice to get more comfortable. We are going to have to make plays.”
Triton won the JV contest by a final of 38-32. Plymouth got 11 points from Preston Wolfe and Triton was led by Evan Briles.
Plymouth (0-2) will be right back in action on Friday night in their home opener against Argos. Triton will hit the floor Friday at home against NorthWood.
*TRITON 47, PLYMOUTH 33
at Triton
Plymouth 7 12 22 33
Triton 11 24 37 47
Plymouth (33) – Hall 1 0-0 2, Lark 1 0-0 3, Creighbaum 1 0-0 2, Walters 0 0-0 0, Wray 3 0-0 7, Strain 3 4-5 11, Feece 1 0-0 3, Ellery 0 1-2 1, Sheely 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 5-7 33.
Triton (47) – McKinney 3 0-1 6, Oviedo 5 2-2 14, Graham 1 0-0 2, Shively 4 1-3 11, Johnson 2 0-0 5, Yates 3 2-3 8, Large 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 6-11 47.
3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 4-16 (Lark, Strain, Wray, Feece), Triton 5-14 (Oviedo, Shively 2).
Rebounds – Plymouth 31 (Strain 11), Triton 28 (Oviedo 8).
Assists – Plymouth 6 (Wray 2), Triton 11 (Oviedo 5).
Turnovers – Plymouth 18, Triton 15.