By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
GREEN BAY — The No. 6-seeded Notre Dame Academy boys’ basketball team had 12 players score in defeating No. 11 Green Bay West 74-42 in a WIAA Division 1 regional game March 3 at Notre Dame Academy High School.
George Kress and Keegan King paced the Tritons with 12 points apiece, and Danny Nennig added 11 points and five assists.
The Tritons have won eight of their last 10 games after starting the season 4-9.
“We brought energy and intensity to the floor,” said Notre Dame head coach AJ Alexander. “I have the utmost confidence in these guys. We respect everybody but fear no one. We’ll be ready for Kaukauna. We know they are a successful and powerful team, but we can compete with anybody, as shown with our victories over Ashwaubenon and De Pere.”
The Tritons advanced to play at No. 3 Kaukauna Friday, March 6.
Junior center Jefferson Cooper-Holmes led the Wildcats with 14 points.
Kress scored 10 of Notre Dame’s first 13 points with an array of moves for an early six-point lead.
King got into the action a bit later with an up-and-under move in the lane to push the home team’s margin to 21-9 with 7:41 remaining in the first half.
“We played our game today,” said King. “We swung the ball well, and the perimeter guys got Garrett [Grzesk] and I good entry looks, and we finished.”
Notre Dame extended its lead to 30-16 at the break.
The Wildcats trimmed the margin to 37-24 after freshman guard Marlon Padilla connected on a pair of free throws.
However, the Tritons broke West’s trapping, full-court pressure on three straight possessions to build the lead back to 19 points.
Down the stretch, with the game in hand, Notre Dame was able to give its five seniors lots of minutes on the floor in the 32-point victory.
Box score
Green Bay West: 16, 26—42
Notre Dame Academy: 30, 44—74
Wildcats: Cooper-Holmes 14, Spoentgen 7, Padilla 7, Bazett-Jones 4, Steele 3, Meyer 3, Eddins 2, Perez-Medrano 2.
Tritons: Kress 12, King 12, Nennig 11, Grzesk 10, Hummel 8, Daniel Hornacek 4, Mitchell 4, Anderson 3, Skaletski 3, Turek 3, Marcus Hornacek 2, Schmid 2.