By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
DE PERE – With 1.2 seconds remaining in Tuesday night’s De Pere versus Notre Dame Academy boys’ basketball game, the Redbirds and Tritons had battled to a 58-58 tie in front of a packed house at De Pere.
A few seconds later, De Pere was celebrating Will Hornseth’s buzzer-beater in a thrilling 60-58 Fox River Classic Conference victory.
The 6-foot-8 sophomore took a 3/4 court pass from Gabe Herman at the free-throw line, turned to the basket, took a dribble and flipped up a scoop shot that went through the hoop as the buzzer sounded.
“That’s the play we had drawn up,” Hornseth said. “Gabe (Herman) is the (De Pere football team’s) quarterback, so that came in handy. (Notre Dame’s Luke) Warden got a hand on it, so it was tough to grab. It was awkward because I had such little time to shoot. I turned around as quick as I could.”
The bucket sent the De Pere (20-2 overall, 14-2 FRCC) student body rushing onto the floor in a mad dash.
“Yeah, there were lots of people around me,” Hornseth laughed.
The Tritons (16-5, 12-3) trailed by 10, 47-37, with about eight minutes remaining but went on a 19-7 run to take a 56-54 lead late in the game.
Two free throws each by Herman and Jack Jorgensen gave the Redbirds a 58-56 lead with 42 seconds left.
When Herman was fouled, Notre Dame’s Chris Mitchell, who had 17 points, fouled out.
After Herman made a steal on the Tritons’ next possession, he called timeout with 26 seconds left.
Herman was then fouled with 19 seconds remaining but missed both free throws.
With time running down, Notre Dame’s Ethan Wall-Atim had the ball near the left corner, looking for a teammate.
When no option opened, Wall-Atim took it to the rim and scored with 1.2 seconds remaining, setting up the final dramatic play.
“I’m not sure how that ball got through Warden’s hands to get to Will,” De Pere Head Coach Brian Winchester said. “With 1.2 seconds left, you have to be fortunate to win a game like that. Will is skilled, so it wasn’t a lucky shot. At the same time, lots of things had to go right for that play to happen.”
Winchester had nothing but praise for the Tritons.
“Both teams were competing for a conference championship,” he said. “They’re an up-and-coming team this year, and they wanted to win as bad as we did. They defend extremely well. It was a physical game, and we got frustrated at times.”
Early on, the Redbirds leading 14-13, they went on a 9-0 spurt to push the advantage to 23-13.
Notre Dame closed the gap to 26-21 at the break before pulling within 30-29 three minutes into the second half.
Six points from Hornseth, five from John Kinziger – including a 3-pointer – and 3-pointers from Ben Willihnganz and Jorgensen gave De Pere its second 10-point lead of the game.
“It was a great high school game, no doubt,” first-year Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Bobinski said. “It was the highest of stakes in a great atmosphere. We put up a good fight, and I’m proud of my kids for hanging in there and coming back at the end. My kids are awesome – they’re an unselfish group.”
Hornseth scored a game-high 19 points, while Kinziger (16) and Herman (14) also scored in double figures for the Redbirds.
Keegan King and Emmett Lawton scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Tritons.
It was the second straight game De Pere played in front of a packed house at its gym.
The Redbirds beat Ashwaubenon Feb. 11, 81-67.
“That was a hard two-game stretch,” Winchester said. “We’ll be ready for our last two conference games (at Green Bay Southwest and Sheboygan North).”