PLYMOUTH - Going a span of five minutes and 41 seconds without a point was too much for Wawasee's varsity boys basketball team to overcome Friday in Plymouth.
During the scoring drought, Wawasee witnessed at 7-4 lead become a 18-7 deficit, one it couldn't come back from in a 74-60 Northern Lakes Conference loss to the Pilgrims."That was important, especially against a team like Wawasee," Plymouth coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said about an 18-2 Pilgrims run between the 5:03 mark in the first quarter and the 6:44 mark of the second.
"We were able to control things a little bit more, just because we were playing from out in front," he added.
Despite getting down, Wawasee (6-5, 2-2 NLC) did make a couple of runs at the Plymouth Pilgrims (8-5, 3-1 NLC).
Late in the second quarter, the Warriors used an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 26-23, but Plymouth responded with a 9-0 run of its own, extending the lead to 35-23. Midway through the third quarter, Wawasee cut the lead to 40-36, but once again Plymouth responded, using another 9-0 spurt to run its lead to 49-36 with 1:47 left in the quarter.
"They got that lead and we could never break it," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said. "We'd start making a run, and they'd get a couple breakaways and make a couple of layups."
Each time it seemed like Wawasee would get close, Plymouth senior Leneil Himes knocked the Warriors back.
Himes finished the contest with 19 points on 9-for-13 shooting, while also blocking three shots and recording two steals.
"I thought Leneil had the most energy he's had all season long," Stuckmeyer said of Himes, who'll be playing football for the Indiana Hoosiers in the fall. "That was neat to see. I think he enjoyed the game. He was in it on both ends of the floor."
A prime example of Himes doing it on both ends of the floor came in the first quarter.
After blocking a shot, Himes came down with the ball, dribbled it between two Wawasee defenders on his way from one end of the floor to the other, ending on a no-look pass to senior Curtis Ivy for a layup.
The Ivy layup was just one of many for the Pilgrims, who ended the game hitting 24 of 37 two-point field goals, 29 of 52 overall.
"They all did a good job of attacking and getting those layups when they were there," Stuckmeyer said of his team. "We thought it would be key for us to take the open layups and open 3s when they were there. We did a nice job of doing both of those tonight."
And it wasn't just running the ball up the court to get those layups. Many came from the Pilgrims half-court offense.
"They were patient with it when they needed to be and as soon as we'd spread out, they'd attack," Mishler said. "They were good enough athletes, and strong enough with the ball, to make that extra pass. That's what hurt us."
On the other hand, Wawasee connected on just 36 percent of its shots.
"You just can't do that," Mishler said about his team's field goal percentage.
Junior Riley Stichter had Wawasee's highest field goal percentage, going 5 for 8 from the field to pick up 13 points to go with his 12 rebounds.
However, it was senior Keegan Beer that kept Wawasee in the game, scoring 22 points on 6-for-14 shooting, 4 for 8 from behind the three-point arc.
"Those arc shots were tough shots," Mishler said of Beer, who also had a game-high five steals. "He had a hand in his face. He knows what he wants done. He knew how important it was. This was to stay in the hunt in the NLC. As a senior, you kind of understand those things."
The game was important, because with both teams entering the game with 2-1 NLC records, the loser could be all but out of the conference chase.
With Warsaw defeating Concord 54-48 Friday, the Tigers hold a 4-0 record in the NLC with Elkhart Memorial, NorthWood and Plymouth still on their slate.
Unless Warsaw manages to lose two of those, Plymouth drops another AND Wawasee runs its NLC schedule against Concord, Northridge and Goshen, the Warriors could be out of the running for a conference title.
"I've been in this conference for a long, and I've seen crazy things," Mishler said. "I know you can still win it with a 5-2 record, but it's awful hard. There's a lot of good teams out there, and Warsaw's gonna be tough to beat. Now what we have to do is just bounce back and try to make a sectional run."
