Pilgrim recap — Q&A with Plymouth’s Grindle
Q — the sad part of it all is that a great game-winning shot (by Warsaw in last Friday’s NLC loss) kind of overshadows the unbelievable play before that one by Davis (Wray).
A — I think they (Warsaw) were shocked to be in that position. A minute or two earlier they were ahead by eight points. We chipped away hit a couple of shots and all of a sudden they let the ball go and we got it back in a one-possession game.
I think everybody in the gym was screaming at me to take a time out. I think all of my assistant coaches were screaming at me to take a time out, but I didn’t want to take the time out.
We had the ball in the hands of the guy we wanted to have the ball and I didn’t want them (Warsaw) to get set. I think that Warsaw was a little bit still in shock and awe because :30 ago the ball game was supposedly over.
the ball was in Davis’ hands, which is the guy we wanted to attack and create. We had guys where we want them for the drop-off and to finish it.
Davis got fouled stepped up and hit two free throws.
Warsaw does not give up leads. they don’t get up eight and go into that four corners and give up leads.
they had us right where they wanted us and we got out of it. Our kids did absolutely everything they could to give us a chance to win which is what makes that (game-winning shot) so tough to swallow.
In the grand scheme, we forced a kid to hit one heckuva shot.
Q — Defensively you’ve found some things you can use from Friday?
A — I think we found some things when we got into our press.
the press and the trapping and stuff is because we are trying to play to our strengths a little more. I think we’ve gotten better on that.
that’s been pretty effective for us since the Goshen game and the last couple weeks. We’ve implemented it more. We’ve worked on it more in practice.
Q — Another area on the defense, is that you’ve played some really good big players who really haven’t hurt you this year.
A — then you say that and Penn brings 6’8” and 6’8” this week and on anybody else’s team those might be #1 or #2 guys on Penn they are 4 and 5. And who knows who they are bringing off the bench?
We haven’t been hurt a lot by really good bigs. It’s nice to say that for a change.
Michael Sheely has come leaps and bounds, especially on the defensive end. You saw that from day one.
Easton (Strain) does a fantastic job of helping. With Kadyn (Ellery) we have some length and some size we don’t always have. I’ve been very pleased with those guys and what they are doing that allows our on-ball (defense) to be better.
that’s not even mentioning Caleb Bowling who has been a spark plug for us all year playing hard and playing well.
they play really well together and we need to continue to get those guys running our stuff and getting into our high/low action and all those things that have been good for us and have to continue to be good for us.