GOSHEN — A chilly night in Goshen was made chillier by the Red Hawks as Plymouth dropped a 44-27 NLC decision.

Plymouth could manage just eight points in the first half and could never overcome the Goshen lead.

“They are playing some really good basketball,” said Plymouth coach Ryan Bales. “They’ve gotten hot at the right time we caught them on a night where they continue to play well.”

“We can take some positives from our second half but we have to keep ourselves closer going into the half,” he said. “I won’t say we aren’t a comeback team because we have shown some ability to come back but we aren’t a pressing team our game is in the half-court.”

Goshen was good in the half-court as well forcing eight first-half turnovers and giving Plymouth one and done on their offensive end cleaning up the defensive glass. The Red Hawk motion offense kept Plymouth running all night on defense getting open looks and hitting enough to stretch and hold the lead.

Plymouth was able to recover and play to a 19-19 second half.

“The second half we did a lot better job screening and cutting, slowing down and taking it strong to the basket,” said Bales. “We just had too many empty possessions in the first half where that didn’t happen.”

Goshen’s motion offense was able to run the clock and hold off any ideas of a Plymouth comeback.

“As part of our game plan we wanted to take away the dribble,” said Bales. We felt like they can reverse it as long as we are jumping to the ball. That’s why away from the ball is so important to us. They (Goshen) play smart they execute well. We really wanted to keep them out of the paint.”

“What we have to take away from this is that across the board we played much better in the second half offensively,” he said. “In the first half, we have to find a way to stay closer.”

Plymouth is 6-12 and will be on the road at Westview on Saturday. Goshen is now 9-7.

•GOSHEN 44, PLYMOUTH 27

At Goshen

Plymouth 4 8 17 27

Goshen 13 25 33 44

Plymouth (27) — Hunter 2 0-0 5, Yoder 1 0-0 3, Hissong 1 1-2 4, Strain 3 2-3 9, Wray 2 0-4 4. Totals 9 3-9 27.

Goshen (44) — Hogan 5 2-2 14, Harmelink 1 0-0 3, Zack Barker 6 1-1 14, Garcia 1 0-0 2, Byler 2 0-0 4, Revoir 0 3-3 3, Weiss 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 6-6 44.