NEW WASHINGTON — On a night when defense was prevalent and possessions came at a premium, Plymouth was slightly better than Buckeye Central.

The Big Red limited the Bucks to just 14 of 43 shooting from the floor and forced 15 turnovers in a 51-41 win over BC Friday night.

The Bucks were also good defensively, limiting Plymouth to 17 for 42 from the floor, but the Big Red did a better job of taking care of the basketball, committing just nine turnovers.

Plymouth coach Marty McKenzie said that his team’s focus the entire offseason was defense.

“That’s been our go-to thing this preseason,” McKenzie said. “Our defense last year was just horrendous. We couldn’t stop anyone; we couldn’t stop anybody at the rim and that is all we worked on.”

McKenzie added that his team’s offense was not as good because of his team’s focus.

“Our offense end was lacking tonight,” McKenzie said. “But it’s because we’re working on the defensive effort in practice. The guys have roles, one lineup is playing man-to-man, one lineup is playing zone. Another lineup is playing half-court trap so we’re trying to learn our roles.

“We had a good rotation in the first half and that paid off at the defensive end.”

Buckeye Central coach Tom Howell said that, while his defense was good, his team simply didn’t move the basketball as well as he would have liked.

“Offensively, we had some looks and got shots we normally make,” Howell said. “We have to work on getting the ball into the paint a little more; we only shot eight free throws.

“Also, I don’t know what our turnover total was, but it seemed like we turned the ball over too much in the first half for sure, but in the second half we did a little better,” Howell added.

The Big Red held a 13-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and 24-19 at the break. BC never led in the game.

Buckeye Central trailed, 35-29, entering the final frame, and cut the lead to 43-39 on an Aiden McDougal 3-point shot with two minutes left.

But the Big Red knocked down eight of nine free throws in the final 1:56 of the game to seal it.

Plymouth shot 27 free throws in the game, hitting 15, while Buckeye shot eight free throws, hitting seven.

“I told our guys before the game we’ll shoot between 20 and 30 free throws tonight because (BC) finishes most possessions with a foul,” McKenzie said. “And we shot 27. We were right where we thought we were going to be. They shot eight and that’s the difference.

“In the first half, I think we only had one foul. We were playing good defense without fouling.”

Howell said that his team didn’t pass the ball as well as he would like.

“We have to share the ball,” Howell said. “Our first four possessions of the third quarter, we might have made one pass. We don’t have players that can play like that. We have to share it. If we have to reverse it two or three times then that’s what we have to do.”

Plymouth’s Zeth Goth led all scorers with 19 points, including six in the pivotal fourth period.

“When Goth knows to go to the rim, he’s a pretty decent player,” McKenzie said. “To stand out there and jack 3s, he’s not too talented. When he gets a good mix, goes to the rim three or four times then takes a 3, he’s one of the area’s best players.”

McDougal paced the Bucks with 12 points, while Tyler Sanderson added 10, all in the first half.

Howell said he was happy with his team’s effort and defense.

“Our effort was there,” Howell said. “Fifty-one points, 15 from the free-throw line. This one came down to, on our side, we didn’t play well on the offensive end. Plymouth is athletic and they are scrappy. We struggled on the offensive end.”

Box score

Plymouth                   13    11    13     18 — 51

Buckeye Central        5    14      8      14 — 41

Plymouth (1-0): Shots 17-42; 3-pt shots 2 (Clayton Miller, Owen Reynolds); Free throws 15-27; Rebounds 21; Turnovers 9. Scoring: Clayton Miller 2 4 9, Trace McVey 2 1 5, Josh Beebe 1 0 2, Owen Reynolds 2 2 7, Zeth Goth 7 5 19, Nick Cole 0 2 2 Gavin Oakley 3 1 7.

Buckeye Central (0-1): Shots 14-43; 3-pt. shots 6 (Aiden McDougal 2, Tyler Sanderson 2, Alex Kanney 2); Free throws 7-8; Rebounds 25; Turnovers 15. Scoring: Drew Rose 2 0 4, Stephen Sostakowski 1 2 4, Aiden McDougal 5 0 12, Tyler Sanderson 3 2 10, Damian Dean 0 3 3, Alex Kanney 3 0 8.

JV: Buckeye Central 39-27.