BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT

SUAMICO – Bay Port’s Cordell Tinch put on a dunking display in the Pirates’ 60-39 victory over Green Bay Preble in a WIAA D1 regional semifinal game March 2 at Bay Port High School.

Tinch, who led No. 1 seeded Bay Port with 21 points, had 10 of those via dunks. The Pirates (19-4) beat the No. 17 Hornets (5-19) for the third time this season.

“Preble’s patient offense kept them in the game and we weren’t making shots,” said Bay Port head coach Nate Rykal. “They really packed it in (in the lane) and didn’t really guard a few of the guys on the perimeter, almost daring us to shoot it. Sometimes it’s hard to shoot it when you’re that wide open. We need to be better than that shooting the ball. We didn’t play as well as we could have, but we still won by 21 points. We made (Preble) work their tails off.”

The Pirates will host No. 9 Menomonee Falls (11-12) Saturday, March 3, in the regional finals at 7:00. Falls was a 104-85 winner over FRCC rival De Pere.  The Indians were already up 20 points just eight minutes into the game against the Redbirds.

“The game against Menomonee Falls will be much different than this one,” Rykal said. “We won’t worry about a team being patient on offense because they will run the ball up the court. It will be a lot of fun to watch. I’ve always wanted to play against a team that was coached by (Steve) Showalter because I like the style he teaches. He told me at the seeding meeting that his team is a bunch of small guys that shoot the three. If they are making them, they are dangerous.”

Preble’s only lead of the game came at 2-0 a few minutes after the opening tip. The Pirates scored the next 11 points, only to see the Hornets keep things close most of the first half.

Bay Port led just 16-15 with five minutes left, but took a 25-18 lead into the break. Tinch had three dunks in a row at one point, with the last one coming off an Alec Nagel alley-oop. Jack Plumb scored 10 points in the first 18 minutes and would end with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Tinch added a pair of thunderous throw downs in the second half. He also added a trio of three pointers and was 9-for-17 from the floor overall.

The Hornets attempted only two free throws on the night and were led by Camden Wall’s 16 points. Wall went over 1,000 career points with a field goal in the first half.

Box Score

Preble: 18, 21 – 39
Bay Port: 25, 35 – 60

P: Wall 16, Nicklaus 12, Watermolen 4, Carwardine 3, Bobholz 4; 3-pt: Wall 4, Nicklaus 2, Carwardine 1; FG: 15-45 (33%); FT: 2-2 (100%).

BP: Tinch 21, Phillips 4, Johnson 2, Nagel 9, Plumb 13, Plummer 2, King 1, Melchior 3, LaMue 5; 3-pt: Tinch 3, Nagel 2, Melchior 1, LaMue 1; FG: 24-57 (42%); FT: 5-9 (56%).