PLYMOUTH – The experts said it couldn’t happen but they should have asked the Plymouth Pilgrims as they played one of their best games of the season and upset sectional favorite South Bend Washington by a 53-46 final.

It was a truly team win as the Pilgrims were physical and did all the little things well in taking the win. Key bench performances from Garrett Tharp and Brayden Davidson also turned the tide as the Pilgrims survived a tough night shooting from the free throw line (7-21) to take the win.

“We felt like we haven’t played out best yet and I think tonight we had 32 minutes on the board and put together pretty darn close to 32 minutes,” said Plymouth head coach Ryan Bales. “It all came back to hustle plays, taking charges, and doing a good job on the boards. We’re excited but we have a tough challenge tomorrow.”

It was a game with many different story lines. One of the biggest the health of senior post man Josh Anders who aggravated an ankle injury in the closing moments of Wednesday night’s win over Clay. How much Anders would be able to give became a moot point as he picked up two quick fouls and was forced to the bench for most of the first half.

Enter Garrett Tharp, who for the second game in a row came up big in relief of Anders, taking a charge, and providing a big presence on the boards with three rebounds but more importantly keeping balls alive off missed shots.

“I thought he played well the other night too in that second quarter stretch when we were down against Clay,” said Bales. “He came in and did his thing. We just found a way tonight.”

“Josh gutted it out with his effort, I’m sure he’s hurting worse than what he showed. He played really well down the stretch. Our guards against that kind of pressure defense it’s tough. I was proud of them and finding a way to get it done.”

The Pilgrims got it done with “Plymouth Basketball” defensively holding Washington to an ice cold 16 of 55 shooting from the field and forcing 18 turnovers. In addition they found a way to do all the little things that made the difference.

“How many charges did we take? (Matt) Friar had an outstanding effort on that Garrett (Tharp) came in and took a charge. I think we just had them flustered,” said Bales. “We played a lot of zone defense there – packed it in. We felt we had to take our chances they were 28 percent coming in from three and 50 percent from two.

“Still within that you have to fight inside that three point line the rebounding tonight was probably one of the best efforts we had. We showed  a lot of guts on the defensive boards just a gutty effort out of our crew.”

Washington wouldn’t back off repeatedly making runs at the Plymouth lead in the second half but could never cut it back under four points.

“We’ve stayed very composed (the last two games),” said Bales. “They aren’t fazed by things. We’re playing very relaxed right now our guards are doing a great job handling the ball and our bigs are giving us a great effort down low. It’s truly a team effort with great contributions from everybody.”

Plymouth (16-8) plays South Bend Riley (21-5) in the final at Plymouth High School starting at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

 

Score by Quarters

Plymouth 14  25  35  53

Washington  6  19  27  46

Plymouth (53) – Barron 2 0-2 5, Eveland 3 0-4 6, Carmichael 0 0-0 0, Felke 6 7-12 22, Anders 6 0-0 12, Friar 3 0-2 6, Davidson 0 0-1 0, Tharp 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 7-21 53.

Washington (46) – Given 4 3-5 11, Glass 2 4-4 9, Stuckey 0 0-0 0, Brazier 4 3-4 12, McKinney 0 0-0 0, White 2 1-4 5, Andrews 3 0-0 6, Wilson 1 1-1 3. Totals 16 12-18 46.

3 Pt. FG –Plymouth 4-14 (Felke), Washington 2-19 (Glass, Brazier).

Rebounds – Plymouth 42 (Eveland 8), Washington 39 (Andrews 12).

Assists – Plymouth 14 (Barron 4), Washington 5 (Given, Brazier 2).

Steals – Plymouth 9 (Felke 4), Washington 9 (Given 5).

Turnovers – Plymouth 15, Washington 18.

Fouls (Fouled Out) – Plymouth 15, Washington 21 (McKinney).