Bremen Bops Plymouth
By Ron Haramia
Pilot Sports
PLYMOUTH � Plymouth head basketball coach Jack Edison started his 30th year on the sideline Saturday night with a familiar face sitting next to him. Looking for any source of offense to stay with a senior-dominated Bremen squad, coach Edison probably wished he could have inserted son Michael, now an assistant, onto the floor like he did a few years ago.
Unfortunately for Edison and his young and inexperienced Pilgrim team, they started their 2002-03 season against a veteran Lion team already with one game under its belt.
Though the youthful home team stayed close for the better part of three quarters, Greg Neeley�s shooting, combined with excellent team marksmanship from the free throw line at the end of the game, helped the Bremen Lions even their record at 1-1 by defeating Plymouth 56-42.
�Bremen is a veteran team and takes advantage of any let ups that you have,� lamented Edison. �They are very team-oriented, unselfish, and do not force things. We know we have a lot of work ahead of us.�
The only thing the Lions may have forced was the tempo, with Neeley scoring seven points and Sam Yoder six as Bremen jumped out to a seven-point lead after one period of play.
Kyle Benge (four) and Kyle Plumlee (two 3-pointers) scored all of Plymouth�s second quarter points when the Pilgrims slowed down the Lions with their sagging man-to-man defense to pull within four at the half.
Benge hit a three early in the third to give the Pilgrims their first lead at 23-22, but the visitors would outscore Plymouth 13-6 the rest of the period to push the lead back to six.
Neeley scored eight of his game-high 24 points in the third, two of the buckets coming off of nice feeds from post player Alex Bryant.
Benge scored seven of his team-high 23 during the same time period to keep the Pilgrims in striking distance.
�Greg is definitely a shooter, but he does so many other things,� said Hudson of his steady senior guard. He also took three charges and had a team-high eight rebounds on the night.
After a Matt Cunningham three-point play, then a Bryant steal and lay up to move the Lion lead to nine early in the fourth (40-31), Benge had a three-point play and baseline jumper to get Plymouth back within four.
But that would be the last sniff of the lead for the Pilgrims.
As a team, the Lions hit 11-of-14 free throws during a 21-point fourth quarter to finish with the 14-point margin and their first win of the young season.
After running the show for Bremen from his point-guard position the first three quarters, Josh Gramm asserted himself in the final period by scoring seven points on a couple of steals and drives, plus a 4-of-5 effort from the line.
�Gramm had an excellent game,� added Hudson. �We were in attacking mode and he just keeps his head up and is very unselfish. Overall, we just defended well, took care of the ball and played more intense (than against Argos Wednesday).�
Next up for the Pilgrims is a visit from the Triton Trojans tomorrow night. Bremen travels to Goshen on Friday.
BREMEN 56, PLYMOUTH 42
At Plymouth
BREMEN (56): Kyle Neeley 0 0-0 0, Nate Beron 0 0-0 0, Josh Gramm 3 4-7 10, Adam Young 0 0-0 0, Josh Hueni 1 0-2 2, Shawn Hochstetler 0 2-2 2, Sam Yoder 3 2-2 8, Alex Bryant 2 0-0 4, Gary Polson 0 0-0 0, Greg Neeley 9 4-4 24, Matt Cunningham 2 2-3 6. TOTALS: 20 14-20 56.
PLYMOUTH (42): Kyle Benge 10 1-1 23, Geoff Scheetz 1 2-3 5, Kyle Plumlee 2 0-0 6, Ryan Clinton 0 0-0 0, Kyle Wallace 1 2-4 4, Dan Avalos 0 0-0 0, Grant Lawson 2 0-2 4, Scott Michel 0 0-0 0, Matt Houin 0 0-0 0, Matt Haug 0 0-0 0, Bill Miller 0 0-0 0, Ryan Pickell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 5-10 42.
Score by Quarters
Bremen 15 22 35 56
Plymouth 8 18 24 42
3-pointers: Plymouth 5 (Benge 2, Scheetz, Plumlee 2), Bremen 2 (Neeley 2). Fouls (fouled out): Plymouth 19 (none), Bremen 11 (none)
Records: Plymouth 0-1, Bremen 1-1
JV score: Bremen 34, Plymouth 25 (Nate Beron was the leading scorer for Bremen with 11, Dan Avalos scored 12 for Plymouth).
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