Bill Patrick (left) talks with Chandler O’Connor during the fourth quarter of Friday’s 69-57 loss at Plymouth. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

PLYMOUTH – A sluggish start led to another frustrating night on the court for the Tippecanoe Valley basketball team. The Vikings ran into an offensive buzz saw against Plymouth Friday night as the Pilgrims shot an incredible 76-percent from the floor to claim a 69-57 victory.

“We just weren’t ready to play,” began Valley head coach Bill Patrick. “We didn’t warm up right, we weren’t mentally ready to play. Then we went in at half in a better position and thought we had some things together and we come out and look lost for the first four minutes of the third quarter.

“You take out those eight minutes and I really think we played well tonight.”

Jarred Littlejohn takes a jumper for the Vikings.

Valley put itself in a hole in the first four minutes of the game as Plymouth started the game on a 12-2 run. The Vikings eventually got going offensively and trailed 18-10 heading into the second quarter.

The Vikings looked like a completely different team in the second quarter. Plymouth continued to shoot lights out in the quarter, but Alex Thacker and the Vikings outscored the Pilgrims 16-15 in the frame to cut Plymouth’s lead to 33-26 at the break.

Thacker once again showed that he is capable of carrying the team on the offensive end. The senior scored 19 points, highlighted by several three pointers. Neil Clampitt led the Vikings scoring effort with 21 points.

“Early in the game Neil (Clampitt) wasn’t getting open and wasn’t getting shots at all,” Patrick said. “We took him out and talked to him, put him back in and he started hitting. We told the kids in the locker room a little bit ago that when you have a guy that is shooting the ball that well, you need to get him the ball more. We didn’t do a good job of that tonight. We should’ve been kicking it out to Neil late in the game and we weren’t doing that”

The lines from Clampitt and Thacker along with an additional 10 points from Gavin Bussard gave the Vikings 50 of their 57 points. Still, the poor starts to each half gave the Vikings too much to overcome in the end.

“It was pretty simple,” Patrick remarked. “We played well tonight, with the exception of those eight minutes.”

Plymouth played a fundamentally sound game to effort the win over the Vikings. Good ball movement allowed the Pilgrims to build up the lead in the first and third quarters. Tyler England led all scorers with 24 points and was one of four Plymouth players to score in double digits.

Valley (5-5) will look to rebound next week when it travels to Rochester for a Three Rivers Conference battle. The Vikes already downed the Zebras over Christmas break with a 70-67 double-overtime victory in the Winning Edge Holiday Tournament.

Plymouth (7-3) will travel to Concord next Friday in Northern Lakes Conference action.

Alex Thacker drives inside for Valley.