By Greg Bates
SPORTS EDITOR
DE PERE – Bay Port tried to do everything in its power to slow down the high-tempo De Pere boys’ basketball team, but it wasn’t enough.
The Pirates threw a 3-2 zone and box-and-1 at the Redbirds, but De Pere’s sharpshooters were on their game.
Top-ranked De Pere outdistanced itself by scoring 42 second-half points and pulled away for a 75-53 victory at home over Bay Port in a Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC) matchup on Tuesday night.
“I thought we did a nice job adjusting to the zones,” De Pere coach Brian Winchester said. “We started to get to the open areas and touch the high and low post, which allowed better looks inside and on the perimeter.
“We were able to find Pryce Gregoire a few times on inside-out looks and he knocked down some key 3s early. Zach (Kinziger) found some looks and took advantage. Once the zone spaced out, Will (Hornseth) was able to get freed up from double teams and finished well on the inside. John (Kinziger) was great tonight getting the ball to the open guy.”
Bay Port (10-5, 6-4 FRCC) tied to keep the game as low scoring as possible. It led 10-7 before De Pere (15-0, 11-0 FRCC) went on a 16-5 run that was capped by a pair of Gregoire 3-pointers.
The Pirates got their deficit down to five. 28-23, late in the opening half. However, the Redbirds answered with a 19-4 run and were up 47-27 just five minutes into the second half.
Hornseth went to work, scoring 12 second-half points to help De Pere pull away.
John Kinziger finished with 10 points and a season-high 10 assists to register a double-double.
Zach Kinziger scored a game-high 20 points, hitting four of his team’s 11 3-pointers. Hornseth came through with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Gregoire chipped in 11 points.
Bay Port was led by Jayden Hackett with 13 points. Vince Vandervest added 12 points.
“Defensively we were solid again,” Winchester said. “I thought we did a good job limited good scorers in (AJ) Lieuwen, Hackett and Vandervest.
“(Hogan) Demovsky, (Ben) Willihnganz and (Gabe) Herman are providing great defensive efforts and doing a lot of the little things to help us win.”
De Pere travels to Manitowoc Lincoln on Friday. John Kinziger is just 24 points from breaking Jordan Meulemans’ school scoring record of 1,874 points. Bay Port’s next game is Friday against visiting Ashwaubenon.