By Josh Staloch
Correspondent

Green Bay – The first half of action Dec. 15 between Notre Dame and visiting Ashwaubenon couldn’t have been any more back-and-forth.

Through 18 minutes of play, the teams traded the lead, neither able to get more than three points of breathing room at a time, before heading into intermission tied 33-33.

In the second half, the Jaguars (2-2 overall) began chipping away at the Notre Dame (2-1) defense and eventually took control en route to an 81-66 victory.

“Notre Dame is a good team,” said Ashwaubenon head coach Mark Tomashek. “They have size, skill, they’re athletic and can shoot the ball. They’re solid, so this is a good win for us.”

During the pregame warm-ups, both teams were dialed in with their shooting and that carried over into the game as soon as the clock started rolling.

Ashwaubenon took its time with the first possession of the game – moving the ball around and patiently waiting for a good shot opportunity.

That opportunity came from beyond the arc for Marcus Tomashek, who nailed the jumper to put three on the board.

But, as would be the case for the whole first half, the Tritons responded at the other end with a strong play, as Garrett Grzesk pulled down an offensive rebound and went back up for two.

With less than nine minutes remaining in the half, Notre Dame’s Emmett Lawton went into the lane with a nice shot to give the Tritons a 19-17 lead.

The Jaguars Attacus Johnson connected from deep in the corner for three to put his team ahead by one.

It looked like the Tritons were going to close out the half with a slight lead after Danny Nennig scored on a drive to the basket, but Ashwaubenon was able to coax a foul from the Notre Dame defense with less than a second to go.

Matt Imig made good on both attempts from the line to knot the game at halftime.

The second half started out looking a lot like the first.

Both teams continued to shoot at a high percentage and neither could separate by more than a couple of points.

The game turned in Ashwaubenon’s favor when Imig, set up by a great pass from Tomashek, drained a 3-pointer to give the visiting team a 48-45 lead.

Moments later, and following some nice ball movement, Brady Wittig put away another three for the Jaguars, one that gave them a six-point lead they would build on down the stretch for their second win of the season.

“In the second half, we seemed to gain a little more confidence offensively,” Tomashek said. “I told them (at halftime) they were hanging with it. I also told them they needed to play tougher mentally and to not let (Notre Dame) dictate what’s going on – play at your tempo, not theirs.”