PERU – Maybe it wasn’t a “must win” game, but psychologically it will go a long way for Plymouth’s Pilgrims as they went into a hostile environment and took away a dramatic 47-45 win over Peru.

With the final seconds ticking off the clock Plymouth trailing by one, Clay Hilliard took the inbound pass, looked for a shot opportunity that didn’t develop and kicked the ball into the left corner to an open Cole Filson who calmly drained a three, his first attempt beyond the arc for the night, as the game winner.

“You have to give Filson a lot of credit,” said Plymouth coach Ryan Bales. “Two nights ago he was in my doghouse at practice and he responded yesterday in practice and tonight he played like a warrior. We don’t win that game without him being a warrior in the second half. He played very hard.”

Hard enough to end the game with 14 points and five rebounds to go with his game ending heroics. Filson slashing on the baseline was the offense that brought the Pilgrims back in the second half of a game they trailed by as many as 11 in the first half.

“It’s great to get a win. We’ve been due from that standpoint,” said Bales. “It was a crazy game and from that standpoint the fans got their money’s worth tonight.”

It appeared bleak when Peru’s Michael Chandler hit a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a 45-44 lead with just 13 seconds to play, but without a timeout, Plymouth inbounded to Hilliard and the rest, as they say, is history.

“It was great to see the execution at the end,” said Bales. “It was in the right players hands for us and he made the right basketball play.”

“Whether he (Filson) makes or misses that shot, he (Hilliard) trusted his team mate and that’s what we’ve been trying to get across with this team all season,” said Bales. “So it was great execution whether (Filson) makes that shot or not.”

It was also a night where the Pilgrims had to fight adversity to come up with a victory for the first time in their last three outings.

“It’s a long season so to me I’m looking for growth more than anything,” said Bales. “We have a long way to go. We still have to play a lot smarter than what we are doing. We played harder tonight but we have to play a lot smarter.”

“The good news is that we get a week to practice now before we start the conference season.”

Plymouth moves to 4-2 and will take on NorthWood at Plymouth in that game next Friday night. Peru is now 1-3.

*PLYMOUTH 47, PERU 45

at Peru

Plymouth 10 12 13 12 – 47

Peru 17 9 5 14 – 45