By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON – Chris Farrington had 18 points as the Bay Port boys’ basketball team (4-2 overall, 3-1 FRCC) defeated Ashwaubenon, 54-38, in a Fox River Classic Conference game Dec. 21 at Ashwaubenon High School.
Logan Geissler chipped in 10 points, and Ethan Begotka had seven points and six rebounds.
“I thought Chris hit some big shots when we needed it,” said Bay Port head coach Nate Rykal. “It wasn’t our greatest shooting night, but we were able to get a couple of nice runs to put us ahead.”
Freshman Chris Morgan led the Jaguars (2-5 overall, 0-4 FRCC) with 12 points.
The Pirates shot 41 percent from the field, while the Jaguars were held to just 25-percent shooting.
The teams exchanged the lead four times in the opening 7 minutes of the game, with Bay Port going up 9-5 after Farrington connected on a triple from 23 feet out.
The Jaguars countered with an 8-0 run behind a Marcus Tomashek trey, a trio of free throws and a floater from backup point guard Rome Purull.
With under four minutes remaining until the break, Matt Imig gave Ashwaubenon its last lead of the game when he connected on a triple from the top of the key for a 24-22 advantage.
“I thought our kids played a great first half of basketball,” said Ashwaubenon head coach Chris Karcz. “We exchanged leads with them multiple times and Kyle (Krueger) and Ben (Wendorf) were able to grab some rebounds and played exceptionally well on that side of the floor.”
After Ashwaubenon’s Brady Wittig and Kyle Krueger helped tie the game at 30 early in the second half, the Pirates seized control with a 16-4 spurt over the course of the next 12 minutes to take a 46-34 lead late in the game.
During the game-changing surge, Bay Port forced the Jaguars into nine turnovers and just one field goal with their pressure defense.
“Once we got the 8 to 10-point lead, we wanted to be very patient and take as much time as we needed to get fouled or get a layup, ” said Rykal. “Anytime you can go on the road and get a win against a talented team, it’s big.”
Box Score:
Bay Port: 26, 28—54
Ashwaubenon: 25, 13—38
Pirates: Farrington 18, Geissler 10, Begotka 7, Plumb 4, Steffes 4, Thomas 4, Salem 3, Weber 2, Kozak 2.
Jaguars: Morgan 12, Krueger 8, Imig 6, Purull 5, Tomashek 3, Wittig 3, Wagner 1.
