Plymouth Three-Pointers Help Pilgrims Win 53-51
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
This means the more games a baseball team wins in April, they will face fewer must-win games in September to make the playoffs, because they helped themselves with a good start.
To Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball coach Bill Patrick, the saying applied to the Vikings' 53-51 Wednesday loss to Plymouth (6-2), with a twist. In this case, it would have been "Every three-pointer made in the first quarter is a three-pointer made in the fourth quarter."
Plymouth senior forward John Pettibone hit 7 of 12 three-pointers and finished with 21 points. Five of his three-pointers came in the first quarter, fueling Plymouth's 24-11 lead after one. Screens sprang Pettibone free, and while Patrick questioned afterward if they were moving screens, the referees never penalized Plymouth.
While Valley (4-3) churned its way back into the game, taking a lead as big as seven at 45-38 in the third quarter, Patrick felt falling behind so early and playing from behind so long as the result of Pettibone's barrage caught up with his team. After leading 4-2 in the first quarter, Valley's took its second lead of the game at 32-30 with 5:32 left in the third quarter.
"We didn't do a real good job of tracking Pettibone in the first half," he said. "We just got off to a bad start. Mentally, we weren't ready to play."
Even with the bad start, the Vikings put themselves in a position to win the game at the end. Holding a 51-49 lead with 3:20 left, the Pilgrims went into the stall to beat all stalls against Valley's zone defense. The Pilgrims kept the ball the rest of the game until Valley senior Brandon Eaton deflected an in-bounds pass after a timeout with 26 seconds left. He chased the ball down to Valley's end of the court and passed it to senior guard Noah Silveus, who hit a layup to tie the game at 51-51.
"I didn't feel like we would run out the clock," Plymouth coach Jack Edison said. "We weren't real effective against their zone. If we got 30 seconds or a minute off the clock, any time off the clock, I thought it would benefit us. We weren't in sync offensively. Their zone was pretty effective against us.
"I felt like if it got in their hands one more time with their shooters, they would have a chance of pulling it out.
Plymouth ran the clock out until sophomore guard Ben Snyder hit an open layup with two seconds left, giving the Pilgrims the 53-51 lead. The Vikings called timeout with a second left, but their attempts at a baseball pass down the court and a tip-in failed.
"We had no help-side defense to pick (Snyder) up," Patrick said. "He did a spin-dribble to get around (Anthony) Domenico."
Snyder finished with 10, and teammate Scott McNeil added nine. Brandon Eaton, who entered as one of the top 20 scorers in the state with 24.6 points per game, led Valley with 17. Senior forward Dax Snyder added 11, and freshman forward Trey Eaton scored 10 off the bench.
Valley got back into the game by hammering the ball inside against Plymouth's suspect interior defense. If the Vikings weren't scoring under the basket, they were earning trips to the free-throw line by attacking the basket.
When the Vikings closed within one at 30-29 in the third quarter, assistant coach Chad Patrick, referring to Valley's inside advantage, yelled, "All day fellas, they can't stop it."
After the game, Edison agreed. With 6-3 junior Brent Houin and 6-3 sophomore Jon Slein as Plymouth's primary post players, Valley pounded away inside.
"Talk about easy buckets," he moaned. "They got easy buckets."
Plymouth could not stop Valley inside, but the Vikings could stop themselves.
"We knew they couldn't stop Brandon and Trey (Eaton) inside," Bill Patrick said, "but then we made some bad decisions on passes. We forced it in there."
After hitting 15 of 23 shots (65 percent) and 14 of 15 free throws (94 percent) through three quarters, Valley's offense sputtered in the fourth quarter. The free throws quit falling - they were 0 for 3 - and after two of the misses, Plymouth scored on its end.
"We shot well for three quarters," Bill Patrick said, "then in the fourth, we missed three free throws, missed some layups and missed an 8-foot jump shot that looked like it would go in."
The Vikings led 45-41 to start the fourth quarter, but after Brandon Eaton missed the front end of a one-and-one, McNeil hit a three to cut the lead to 45-44. With Valley leading 49-47, Trey Eaton missed the front end of a one-and-one. Slein responded with a basket to tie the game at 49-49.
The Pilgrims hit a scorching 50 percent of their three-pointers in the game, making 12 of 24. McNeil hit two crucial three-pointers in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. Because they hit so many three-pointers, they overcame Valley's 18-of-29 (62 percent) shooting night. The threes also negated Valley's 14 of 18 free throws -ÊPlymouth won despite making 3 of 5.
Asked if he feared his team ever got to three-happy when taking into consideration his team went to the free throw line only five times, Edison said: "For the most part, we have decent shooters, so shooting that many threes didn't bother me."
Earlier this week, Bill Patrick believed this game was there for Valley's taking, and he repeated those thoughts after the loss.
"I thought we had an excellent chance to win this game," he said. "I thought we would win it. Plymouth is good, they're just not ... they do some nice things. They shoot the ball well and handle the ball well." [[In-content Ad]]
This means the more games a baseball team wins in April, they will face fewer must-win games in September to make the playoffs, because they helped themselves with a good start.
To Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball coach Bill Patrick, the saying applied to the Vikings' 53-51 Wednesday loss to Plymouth (6-2), with a twist. In this case, it would have been "Every three-pointer made in the first quarter is a three-pointer made in the fourth quarter."
Plymouth senior forward John Pettibone hit 7 of 12 three-pointers and finished with 21 points. Five of his three-pointers came in the first quarter, fueling Plymouth's 24-11 lead after one. Screens sprang Pettibone free, and while Patrick questioned afterward if they were moving screens, the referees never penalized Plymouth.
While Valley (4-3) churned its way back into the game, taking a lead as big as seven at 45-38 in the third quarter, Patrick felt falling behind so early and playing from behind so long as the result of Pettibone's barrage caught up with his team. After leading 4-2 in the first quarter, Valley's took its second lead of the game at 32-30 with 5:32 left in the third quarter.
"We didn't do a real good job of tracking Pettibone in the first half," he said. "We just got off to a bad start. Mentally, we weren't ready to play."
Even with the bad start, the Vikings put themselves in a position to win the game at the end. Holding a 51-49 lead with 3:20 left, the Pilgrims went into the stall to beat all stalls against Valley's zone defense. The Pilgrims kept the ball the rest of the game until Valley senior Brandon Eaton deflected an in-bounds pass after a timeout with 26 seconds left. He chased the ball down to Valley's end of the court and passed it to senior guard Noah Silveus, who hit a layup to tie the game at 51-51.
"I didn't feel like we would run out the clock," Plymouth coach Jack Edison said. "We weren't real effective against their zone. If we got 30 seconds or a minute off the clock, any time off the clock, I thought it would benefit us. We weren't in sync offensively. Their zone was pretty effective against us.
"I felt like if it got in their hands one more time with their shooters, they would have a chance of pulling it out.
Plymouth ran the clock out until sophomore guard Ben Snyder hit an open layup with two seconds left, giving the Pilgrims the 53-51 lead. The Vikings called timeout with a second left, but their attempts at a baseball pass down the court and a tip-in failed.
"We had no help-side defense to pick (Snyder) up," Patrick said. "He did a spin-dribble to get around (Anthony) Domenico."
Snyder finished with 10, and teammate Scott McNeil added nine. Brandon Eaton, who entered as one of the top 20 scorers in the state with 24.6 points per game, led Valley with 17. Senior forward Dax Snyder added 11, and freshman forward Trey Eaton scored 10 off the bench.
Valley got back into the game by hammering the ball inside against Plymouth's suspect interior defense. If the Vikings weren't scoring under the basket, they were earning trips to the free-throw line by attacking the basket.
When the Vikings closed within one at 30-29 in the third quarter, assistant coach Chad Patrick, referring to Valley's inside advantage, yelled, "All day fellas, they can't stop it."
After the game, Edison agreed. With 6-3 junior Brent Houin and 6-3 sophomore Jon Slein as Plymouth's primary post players, Valley pounded away inside.
"Talk about easy buckets," he moaned. "They got easy buckets."
Plymouth could not stop Valley inside, but the Vikings could stop themselves.
"We knew they couldn't stop Brandon and Trey (Eaton) inside," Bill Patrick said, "but then we made some bad decisions on passes. We forced it in there."
After hitting 15 of 23 shots (65 percent) and 14 of 15 free throws (94 percent) through three quarters, Valley's offense sputtered in the fourth quarter. The free throws quit falling - they were 0 for 3 - and after two of the misses, Plymouth scored on its end.
"We shot well for three quarters," Bill Patrick said, "then in the fourth, we missed three free throws, missed some layups and missed an 8-foot jump shot that looked like it would go in."
The Vikings led 45-41 to start the fourth quarter, but after Brandon Eaton missed the front end of a one-and-one, McNeil hit a three to cut the lead to 45-44. With Valley leading 49-47, Trey Eaton missed the front end of a one-and-one. Slein responded with a basket to tie the game at 49-49.
The Pilgrims hit a scorching 50 percent of their three-pointers in the game, making 12 of 24. McNeil hit two crucial three-pointers in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. Because they hit so many three-pointers, they overcame Valley's 18-of-29 (62 percent) shooting night. The threes also negated Valley's 14 of 18 free throws -ÊPlymouth won despite making 3 of 5.
Asked if he feared his team ever got to three-happy when taking into consideration his team went to the free throw line only five times, Edison said: "For the most part, we have decent shooters, so shooting that many threes didn't bother me."
Earlier this week, Bill Patrick believed this game was there for Valley's taking, and he repeated those thoughts after the loss.
"I thought we had an excellent chance to win this game," he said. "I thought we would win it. Plymouth is good, they're just not ... they do some nice things. They shoot the ball well and handle the ball well." [[In-content Ad]]