MISHAWAKA — The weather was ugly outside and it became an ugly night inside at Penn High School as Plymouth took a beating by a final of 69-45.
Penn led from the opening possession and dominated the Pilgrims from the start with a lead that reached and stayed as high as 30 points for much of the game. Plymouth continued to battle but could find little to even begin to chip into the almost flawless play of the Kingsmen.
“We chalked it up to a bad night and they played really well. It was one of those nights that we didn’t have it,” said Plymouth head coach Ryan Bales. “I thought we came out in the second half and stayed with it and stayed team mates in a positive way. There weren’t many positives that came out of this. Our guys know they can play a lot better, but I’m not sure even if we play our ‘A’ game we can come out on top as well as they played tonight.”
The Penn dynamic duo of Drew Lutz and Noah Applegate had their way for most of the night with Lutz hitting for 19 points and Applegate 21 and seven rebounds. Plymouth could never find an answer for that and the very physical play of running mates Beau Ludwick and Kegan Hoskins who made key plays for most of the night when the other two didn’t.
Plymouth shooting was a bit off at 40 percent but Penn was red hot hitting on 27 of 46 attempts for 57 percent from the floor. An even bigger advantage was in rebounding where Plymouth could manage just 11 boards, Penn grabbed 33 and 10 of those on the offensive glass.
Penn took advantage of their great size advantage pushing the ball into the post, and when Applegate couldn’t hit, Lutz was available for the three.
“They’ve been kind of up and down on the year,” said Bales. “Tonight they were definitely on the up. They seemed to have more energy in their step, they were quicker to the ball, they were quicker to the paint.”
“They have (Drew) Lutz and (Noah) Applegate and thats tough match up,” said Bales. “Those guys can shoot it they can drive it and they play well off of one another and they have some other guys that just perform their roles really well. They are physical. They take up space and it made for a tough night for us.”
Penn took complete command of the game doubling up the Pilgrims with a 19 point third quarter and were able to coast the rest of the way.
Plymouth got 11 points from Kadin McCrammer and Clay Hilliard, Payton Skirvin had three rebounds and Benji Nixon and Bryce Carmichael had a pair of assists.
Penn is now 12-8 on the year. Plymouth is 12-9. The Pilgrims end their season Tuesday with Senior Night at Plymouth High School with a game against St. Joe.
•PENN 69, PLYMOUTH 45
At Penn
Plymouth 7 21 29 45
Penn 13 33 52 69
Plymouth (45) – Hilliard 4 0-0 11, Carmichael 1 0-0 2, Filson 0 5-8 5, McCrammer 3 3-4 11, Tremaine 1 0-0 3, Reichard 3 0-0 7, Leazenby 1 0-0 2, Skirvin 1 0-0 2, Tharp 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 8-12 45.
Penn (69) – Hickey 0 2-3 2, Lutz 7 1-2 19, Ludwick 4 0-0 9, Carlton 1 0-0 3, Applegate 9 1-2 21, Krothwohl 2 0-0 4, Hoskins 3 1-1 7, Koschnick 1 0-0 2, Hemmelgarn 0 2-2 2. Totals 27 7-10 69.
3 Pt. FG – Plymouth 7-19 (Hilliard 3), Penn 8-14 (Lutz 4).
Rebounds – Plymouth 11 (Skirvin, McCrammer 3), Penn 33 (Applegate 7).
Assists – Plymouth 7 (Nixon, Carmichael 2), Penn 11 (Ludwick 4).
Steals – Plymouth 4 (Hilliard, Carmichael, Wilson, Reichard), Penn 5 (Ludwick 2).
Turnovers – Plymouth 9, Penn 8.
Fouls (Fouled out) – Plymouth 12, Penn 14.
