Big second half leads Plymouth over St. Paul

PLYMOUTH — A true tale of two halves. As good as the numbers were in the first half, they were just as ugly in the second half for St. Paul in Friday's Firelands Conference game at league-leading Plymouth. The Flyers led by 11 points in the first half and by nine at halftime. However, a prolonged scoring drought led to a role reversal in the second half. The Big Red (8-2, 6-0 FC) outscored St. Paul (6-6, 1-5) by a 37-17 margin in the second half of a 63-52 win. "We stopped doing all of the little things," St. Paul coach Steve Minor said. "We needed to rebound out of our defense. We needed to keep track of their shooters, which we did a decent job of, but you knew they were going to make some. But we just didn't execute." St. Paul led 37-26 on the first basket of the second half by Isaac Kalizewski. But the rest of the quarter was all Plymouth and its standout Jarrett Burrer. The FC's leading scorer poured in seven straight points, then a pair of free throws by Lex Grose quickly made it a 37-35 deficit at the 3:21 mark. Cainan Kilgore then made his third 3-pointer of the game to give Plymouth a 38-37 lead, it's first since the 2:59 mark of the first quarter. Kalizewski made two free throws at the other end to briefly give St. Paul the lead back. Nate Griffin did the same on a 3 to give the Flyers a 42-41 lead, but then the Big Red took the lead for good. Burrer converted a three-point play with 1:04 left in the third, then scored on a defensive rebound from close range just before the quarter ended for a 46-42 lead. The Plymouth run continued well into the fourth quarter on back-to-back scores from Sean Winfield and Burrer. Once Burrer made it 52-43 with 5:09 left, the Flyers only got as close as 55-47 with 1:59 left on a basket from Kalizewski. That basket was also the first of the final quarter for the Flyers, who also totaled just seven points over a 12:23 stretch of the second and third quarters. "We missed some layups and easy shots and didn't take care of the ball," Minor said. "It wasn't so much that we were trapped, we just didn't come to the ball well off screens… just a lot of little things added up to one big thing, which was a deficit." Landon Fries started a 14-0 St. Paul the run with a triple, then teammate Griffin made back-to-back 3s around a Big Red turnover for a 15-13 lead. Fries then added yet another 3, and Griffin was fouled and made two free throws at the 1:14 mark to make it 20-13. However, Plymouth closed the quarter with a pair of 3s from Kilgore, including one with just 2.3 seconds left, to make it just a 20-19 deficit. St. Paul kept on the gas in the second quarter. Leading 22-21, the Flyers went on another big run, this time a 10-0 spree over 2:13. Connor Lindenberger started the run with two free throws, then scored inside. After a Plymouth turnover, the Flyers went on a fast break. After a scramble under the basket, Kalizewski scored to push the lead to 28-21, then Fries was fouled and made both for a 30-21 advantage at the 4:41 mark. Griffin scored on a short runner in the lane to make it 32-21. After Plymouth pulled within 32-26 on baskets by Reynolds and Burrer, Griffin answered with a 3 with 1:44 left in the half for a 35-26 lead, which is where things stood at halftime. "We talked really well on defense and knew where everyone was," Minor said. "We got in our rotations and limited them to one shot, and we didn't come up empty at the other end. We did that really well in the first half. "But our valuing of the ball kind of decreased and then they cashed in on turnovers. It also got really physical, but you have to play through stuff like that. Fries scored 18 and Griffin added 16 for St. Paul, which finds things just as tough Saturday night in a non-league game at Division VII No. 5 St. Mary Central Catholic (7-0). Kalizewski finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. ST. PAUL (6-6, 1-5) Nate Griffin 5-2—16, Connor Lindenberger 2-2—6, Isaac Kalizewski 5-2—12, Landon Fries 5-5—18. TOTALS 17-11—52. PLYMOUTH (8-2, 6-0) Jarrett Burrer 8-8—24, Jackson Bays 2-2—8, Izaya Reynolds 5-1—13, Sean Winfield 2-3—7, Lex Grose 0-2—2, Cainan Kilgore 3-0—9. TOTALS 20-16—63. St. Paul 20 15 7 10 — 52 Plymouth 19 7 20 17 — 46 3-point FGs: (SP) Griffin 4, Fries 3; (PL) Kilgore 3, Bays 2, Reynolds 2.