PLYMOUTH — A return to the friendly confines seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for Plymouth’s Pilgrims as they were able to run away to a big 57-42 win.
A return home and a big shot in the arm from an unlikely source. Bryce Carmichael made his first start of the season and though his stat line wouldn’t show it his hustle and determination made a huge difference in the Pilgrims play.
“He had a great week of practice. We gave him an opportunity and he took advantage of it,” said Bales of Carmichael’s play. “We’re not shocked by his response. He’s a high character kid. I thought Kendall (Himes) was really good for us too. They both brought great energy down low, and some toughness inside.”
Off the bench Himes ended the night with four key rebounds and gave the Pilgrims a physical presence underneath.
In all Plymouth looked like a different team than the one they’ve been for the past week.
“It helped having a week of practice,” said Bales. “We were able to work on our timing, our cutting and screening was night and day from what it has been all season. Our cutters trusted they were going to get the ball back, our screeners popped to get the reversals in, it was a great team effort.”
That great team effort led to a more characteristic 59 percent shooting from the field and saw Clay Hilliard score 25 with Cole Filson right behind him with 19. Filson also led the team in rebounds with six.
“Clay had a great night tonight,” said Bales. “NorthWood played some very tough defense, they made us work for everything.
“(Cole) Filson had some great baseline drives,” he said. “I think we did a great job on the defensive end tonight. They didn’t get very many second shots and that’s big for us.”
The turnover numbers were also better with the Pilgrims turning the ball over just eight times in the game.
“We showed a lot of growth from early in the season,” said Bales. “Defensively you have to stay disciplined you have to communicate and work your way through it. We worked on it in practice but we haven’t always seen that translate to games tonight we did a better job of that.”
Most importantly the Pilgrims go to 1-0 to start the NLC season and move their record to 5-2 on the year. NorthWood drops their fourth in a row and moves to 3-5 on the season.
•PLYMOUTH 57, NORTHWOOD 42
at Plymouth
NorthWood 8 12 5 17 – 42
Plymouth 11 10 17 19 – 57
NorthWood (42) – Flickinger 0 0-0 0, Vincent 1 0-0 2, Edwards6 0-2 14, Dutkowski 4 2-3 10, Borkholder 0 0-2 0, Brenner 0 0-0 0, Bean 6 0-0 16. Totals 17 2-7 42.
Plymouth (57) – Hunter 0 0-0 0, Hilliard 7 8-9 25, Carmichael 2 0-1 4, Filson 7 3-4 19, Reichard 1 0-1 3, Hissong 0 0-0 0 Winkle 0 0-0 0, Dolan 0 0-0 0, Barron 2 0-0 5, Houin 0 0-0 0, Gamble 0 0-0 0, Styers 0 0-0 0, Himes 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 13-17 57.
3 Pt. FG – NorthWood 6-16 (Bean 4), Plymouth 6-14 (Hilliard 3).
Rebounds – NorthWood 18 (Dutkowski 7), Plymouth 22 (Filson 6).
Assists – NorthWood 11 (Edwards 5), Plymouth 9 (Hilliard 3).
Steals – NorthWood 4 (Edwards 2), Plymouht 1 (Barron).
Turnovers – NorthWood 5, Plymouth 8.
Fouls (Fouled out – NorthWood 18 (Dutkowski), Plymouth 9.
