Bay Port senior Jack Plumb scores the first two points of the game vs. Green Bay Notre Dame Feb. 22. Plumb went over the 1,000-point barrier with the basket. 

BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT

GREEN BAY – This night belonged to senior basketball player Jack Plumb.

Needing just one point to crack the 1,000-point barrier in his high-school career, Plumb and the No. 10 ranked Pirates took care of it early in Bay Port’s 79-44 Fox River Classic Conference win over Green Bay Notre Dame Feb. 22 at Notre Dame High School.

Plumb, a FRCC player-of-the-year candidate, scored the first two points of the game just seconds into the contest to get the milestone out of the way early.

“Cordell (Tinch) was talking about getting me the ball right away to get that 1,000th point,” said the 6-foot-8 Plumb, who will be heading to the University of Iowa next fall to play football for the Hawkeyes. “I thank him for that and I couldn’t have gotten it done without my teammates. They beat us at our place, so a win like this gives us a lot of confidence heading into tournament play.”

In a classy gesture, Notre Dame officials stopped the game and presented the game ball to Plumb, who ended with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Plumb became just the third Pirates’ player in school history to surpass 1,000 points, as Phil Rodriquez (1,188) did so in 1977 and Tyrone Deacon (1045) did the same in 2003. Plumb has a legitimate shot to move into second all-time on the list.

As Plumb indicated, the Tritons (16-6, 12-6) shocked Bay Port (18-4, 16-2) Jan. 19 with a 62-58 win during a mid-season “slump” where the Pirates lost two consecutive games; but true to the character of the team, that mini-skid is in the rearview mirror, as Bay Port played one of its most complete games of the year.

“It was a great team win,” said Bay Port head coach Nate Rykal. “We had nine guys score in the first half, so that was a great start. We had (11) guys score overall and it was just excellent to see us play really well as a team like I expected. I challenged the guys a lot after our two-game losing streak to Pulaski and Notre Dame. You have to give them a lot of credit for getting after it again. It was probably important that we had that losing streak because it made us better.”

The Pirates held the Tritons to a dismal 25-percent shooting night (14-of-57) and out-rebounded the hosts by a whopping 56-30 margin.

“We really got after it on the defensive end and the boards,” added Rykal. “We showed a lot of mental toughness tonight and really challenged the passing lanes and their shots.”

Tinch also had a double-double with his 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Cade Johnson chipped in with nine points for Bay Port, who shot 46 percent from the floor in the game (32-of-70).

The Pirates jumped out to an 11-3 lead early and never looked back, building that gap to 33-17 at the break.
Bay Port began the second 18 minutes with a 12-0 run to leave little doubt in the rematch.

The No. 1 seeded Pirates will begin WIAA D1 regional play Friday, March 2, when they host the winner of FRCC rivals Sheboygan South/Green Bay Preble. If Bay Port would win its opener, they’d host the regional final the next night versus the winner of De Pere/Menomonee Falls.

Box score

Bay Port: 33, 46
Notre Dame: 17, 27

BP: Tinch 12, Phillips 7, Johnson 9, Nagel 5, Plumb 19, King 5, Melchior 4, Salem 2, Mooren 7, Schroeder 4, LaMue 5; 3-pt: Tinch 2, Johnson 1, Plumb 1, King 1, Mooren 1, LaMue 1.

ND: Lyons 18, Strohmeyer 6, Johnson 3, Rader 6, Zak 7, Cribben 2, Ruiz 2; 3-pt: Lyons 1, Strohmeyer 2, Johnson 1, Zak 1.

CHRIS LIERMANN PHOTOS