Davis scores 33 to lead Plymouth to 52-43 win over Andrean for 3A Regional title

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
3-12-2006

Saturday, 3-11-2006 - 3A Plymouth Regional Final

PLYMOUTH (52)  Jason Renz 1 (2-3) 4, Jared Wendel 0 (0-0) 0, Chad Clinton 2 (0-0) 4, Randy Davis 14 (2-3) 33, Rick Davis 4 (0-0) 9, Jacob Palmer 1 (0-0) 2, Korey Bucher 0 (0-0) 0, Byron Faulstich 0 (0-0) 0.  Totals:  22 (4-6) 52.

ANDREAN (43)  Mike Mandich 0 (0-0) 0, Jesse Repay 0 (0-0) 0, Anthony Johnson 5 (1-2) 11, Luke Harangody 7 (6-6) 20, David Boarden 0 (0-0) 0, Chris Kaba 6 (0-0) 12.  Totals: 18 (7-8) 43.

FIELD GOALS:  Plymouth 22 of 44 for 50.0%: ANDREAN: 18 of 35 for 51.4%.

REBOUNDS:  Plymouth 20 (Jacob Palmer 5) , Andrean 21.(Chris Kaba 9).

TURNOVERS:  Plymouth 7, Andrean 13.

STEALS:  Plymouth 9 (Clinton 3), Andrean 4.

BLOCKED SHOTS:  ANDREAN (5) Chris Kaba 4, Anthony Johnson;  PLYMOUTH (1) Chad Clinton.

3-GOALS:  Plymouth 4-15 (Randy Davis 3, Rick Davis 1); ANDREAN (0).

PLYMOUTH (3-11-2006) This wasn't the Andrean team that didn't play much defense in the second half of the season. This also wasn't the Andrean team that fell behind against Chesterton and East Chicago and got blown out.  But this was the Andrean team that lost a close game at the regional each of the last two seasons.

Three 59ers came face to face with the prospect of defeating tradition-rich Plymouth at the Plymouth Regional.  This wasn't an upset.  It was a line in the sand for years to come.  As long as Andrean has to get through Plymouth to reach the state finals, they have a major problem.

Saturday night a young Plymouth squad with a budding star in 5-foot-10 sophomore Ricky Davis survived a spirited Andrean rally and won the Class 3A Plymouth Regional with a 52-43 win over the 59ers in a battle of top-10 giants.

"We knew it was going to be like this," said Andrean coach Mark Horvath.  "That's why we added Penn to the schedule.  Penn plays exactly like them.  Munster plays like them.  We knew what we were up against coming here."

Andrean was up against Davis, a shifty lead guard who would not be stopped by one defender.  A wonderful dribbler with a high-rising soft shot, Davis, who averages 18 points a game, scored a career-high 33, rejecting the 59ers (19-8) at every turn.  The point guard's big game and the Pilgrims patient 'open offense' style, was just enough to send Andrean home for the season with just that sectional title for the third consecutive season.

Plymouth dominated the first half by more than the 28-21 score.  The Pilgrims (21-4) are unlike most Lake County teams in that they do not challenge you athletically.  Like Penn, John Glenn and Westview, who defeated Boone at the 2A regional Saturday, the Pilgrims do not have a post-based offense and they don't isolate their top scorer one-one-one to create an overmatch or draw a double-team, like so many Lake County teams do.  Plymouth looks to involve all players in lateral movement that often goes away from the basket.  On this night, Andrean had stretches where feeding 6-foot-8 senior Luke Harangody and Chris Kaba worked well and point guard Anthony Johnson had some strong one-on-one isolation moments. Those three boys scored all 43 of the 59ers points.

But at the other end, when the Pilgrims could occupy all the other four defenders with four man movement, Davis's defender, often Niner senior Anthony Johnson, was left alone and got no help on the shifty scoring leader.  The 59ers played very hard and virtually shut out everybody else.  But Davis scored 17 first half points and 16 more in the second half in a see-saw battle in front of 3,500 fans in the very warm Plymouth gym.

"His first step is very good," said Horvath. "We knew all about him.  We've seen Randy on tape several times.  But he was great tonight.  He did it all."

"We're outsized here," said 500-win Plymouth coach Jack Edison. "It's so tough for our kids to match up against their front line.  We got a little bit of a lead, but they went inside to Kaba or Harangody or the guard (Johnson) who is so good.  We were able to play big tonight when we had to."

The key point of the game was after Andrean mounted a 13-3 run to end the third quarter with Johnson sinking a 17-foot shot from the top of the key to give the 59ers a 36-34 edge after three periods.  The impact of the basket at the buzzer, which excited and ignited the 1,000 Andrean fans in attendance, could have lifted the 59ers to victory.

But the Pilgrims play just as tough a schedule as Andrean (8 Class 4A schools), they have state title experience and they were at home. The Pilgrims roared off the bench to start the fourth quarter.  Davis got lost on the baseline to score on a reverse layup and the Plymouth star hit a three-pointer for a 39-36 lead.  A head fake shook Davis free for another layup moments later and it was 41-36 over Andrean with 6:09 left in the game.

The 59ers, who led 37-20 at the half of a 76-70 win over Clark in the semifinals, never really recovered from that spurt, which boosted the lead to 46-36 on another Davis '3' with 3:25 left.

The game was epitomized in a three minute stretch with Plymouth leading 32-31.  For over three minutes, Plymouth and Davis held the ball looking for a good shot.  There were three fouls called against Andrean and a jump ball, with the alternating possession favoring the home team.  Finally, Randy Davis' brother Ricky scored a layup for a 34-31 lead.  Even though Andrean did go on a 5-0 run to take that 36-34 edge, Plymouth had successfully slowed the game.

"They were coming on strong," said Edison, who seemed relieved of a lot of pressure after the win. "Before that they had scored six or eight in a row.  We just wanted to get them off the offensive end and get them out of synch.  Even though they did go ahead after that, I thought that was a pivotal point in the game."

Horvath knows the 59ers must rebuild now. 

"Nobody makes the improvement that AJ (Anthony Johnson) did this year," he said.  "If you know where he came from to play at this level, it is impressive.  Chris Kaba has improved so much.  Nobody saw his best game down in the Brebeuf tournament.  He had four dunks. His best days are ahead of him and he's getting college attention now because they see what his potential is."

"And Luke, he's Luke," added Horvath.  "He's carried us a lot this year.  I told him that if the game was close tonight at the and, that he'd be the one to take us over the top.  It just didn't work out that way."

REGIONAL NOTES:  This is the first time since the advent of class basketball playoffs in 1998 that no Lake, Porter or LaPorte County team has advanced beyond the regional.  Only Oregon-Davis (Starke County) remains alive with two weeks left.  

Randy Davis scored 22 points and stole the ball six times in Plymouth's 63-55 regional semifinal win over Western earlier in the day.  Luke Harangody, who is a top-40 selection and will almost certainly be an Indiana all-star this summer, scored 23 in the 59ers win over Clark.

Fans in Northwest Indiana are consistently blind of anyone outside of the area.  Many said and wrote that Andrean was the favorite to get to the 3A state finals, ignoring the fact that they had to win at Plymouth, where few ever win.  Plymouth was and is the defending sectional, regional and semistate champion and Randy Davis, who scored 33 points Saturday has a history.  Davis scored the basket that put Plymouth ahead in the state title game last year against Washington before Luke Zeller won the game and the title with a half court shot.

Many locally also did not know that three of Plymouth's four losses came when they had three players out of the lineup on suspension.  At full strength, they are 21-1.  The Pilgrims' home court win over Andrean was not an upset.

Andrean coach Mark Horvath did not want to use Plymouth's home court advantage as an excuse, but he recognized that it was a factor.

"But it's something we know about from the start," he said.  "The regional has been here for awhile.  You know you have to come here and win."

Andrean used only six players for much of the championship game.  Junior forward David Boarden was the only sub.

The 55-degree temperature outside and the near capacity crowd made the heat level significant at the Plymouth gym Saturday night.  Game time temps indoors were near 80 degrees and it was even warmer in the upper deck.

Horvath said that he'd like to schedule Plymouth.

"We are trying to play them," he said.  "Some teams won't play us.  A lot of it is that public-Catholic thing.  The 59ers' schedule will change when the Lake Athletic Conference breaks up after next season.

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Revised: March 16, 2006 .