PHOTO BY BRIANNA STEVENS
The 2018-19 season has started for Plymouth State basketball. The Panthers took on the Cadets from Norwich University this past Tuesday night. Plymouth was coming into the game off a loss to New England College and a record of 1-1.
The game started at 6 pm and for the first half of the game, we saw both teams flexing their long-range skill as the teams went tit for tat shooting four consecutive threes, twice. This was all thanks to freshman Dante Rivera (Methuen MA), who went 6-8 in the half with all six shots being threes. Rivera was the spark plug for Plymouth as he put up 20 of Plymouth’s 42 points along with 3 steals and a block.
The second half saw Freshman Manny Alisandro (Manchester NH) start off red-hot, scoring 10 straight points. From there, Plymouth stayed comfortable in the driver’s seat, even at one point pushing their lead to 24 points as they lead the Cadets 70-46. Things started to get a little rocky as Norwich put a drive together closing the gap to 76-67 on a 21-6 run. Eventually, Plymouth pulled out the win as Norwich started to intentionally foul junior Jaylen LeRoy (Manchester NH) and classmate Joe Simpsons (Manchester NH) in a bid to get the ball back. Fortunately, Leroy and Simpson were automatic sinking a six of the free throws and sealing the game for Plymouth State, 84-74.
In the end, youth carried Plymouth’s offense to the as Simpson and LeRoy combined for paltry 6-30 shooting performance and combing for 21 points. Plymouth’s shooting had a lot left to be desired as the team’s shooting percentage was 41.5% along with a 40.7 three-point percentage and a 79.2 free throw percent. Though it was the defense that helped seal the victory as the team amassed a total of 15 steals, with Dante Rivera and Jaylen LeRoy lead the team with 5 and 4 steals respectively.
Plymouth moves to 2-1 as Norwich moves to 1-2. Plymouth will play NHTI in the Boys & Girls Club Classic on Thursday and will travel to Northern Vermont University- Lyndon Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is for 1 p.m.