By Carson Glosny
Contributing Writer
The Notre Dame Academy Tritons (8-14 conf.) hosted the Sheboygan North Golden Raiders (13-10 conf.) on Thursday, Feb. 22, pulling off a 70-53 upset on Senior Night. The Golden Raiders came into the game in third place in the Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC), while the Tritons came into the game in eighth place. All five seniors on the roster took the court for the Tritons to start the game. “These seniors are a unique and special group,” said head coach Brian Bobinski. “All of them had a very non-traditional path to getting to senior night. In many respects it’s what high school sports is all about, very few people get to be the guys scoring all the points or being on the front page of the paper.” Coach Bobinski said he is excited for what this group has in store for their futures, and is proud of how far they’ve each come as athletes and humans.
Cale Buboltz of Sheboygan North would make the first bucket of the game, which came from an easy layup. Aaron Heyroth then responded for the Tritons, with a two of his own. The first five minutes of the game saw a lot of back and forth, with each team was trading off baskets. After a slight stall in scoring from either side, Logan Steffensmeier got a contested layup to go, making the score 11-6, Sheboygan North leading. With 10:46 to go in the first half, Notre Dame’s standout junior Adam Guyette would knock down a triple to get the Tritons within two points, 9-11. After a steal on the backend, impressive freshman Austin Hendricks went up with a pump fake and sent the defender flying, and got the bucket to go.
Drew Siudzinski threw up an alley-oop pass to Andrew Rader, who laid it in for NDA after a Golden Raiders turn over. On the ensuing possession, Rader produced a massive block, and Leo Weber went down the court and tied the game up. Standout freshman AJ Hendricks ripped the ball away for an offensive rebound, utilized a pump fake, and made it 23-19. With 2:25 to go in the first half of play with Notre Dame now up 29-19, Rader would complete an and-1 to give the Tritons three more. Sheboygan North would end up making a 3-point shot before the half was over. Rader would get the last shot of the half as he made a layup with 1.7 seconds on the clock. The score was 36-25 in the Tritons favor going into half.
The Golden Raiders came out of the half strong as Owen Stangel knocked down a 3-pointer making the score 38-32. Jack Warden made an up and around layup which was answered by Sheboygan North’s Blake Buhr who made a corner three before Guyette knocked down a three of his own. Stangel then drove in and got sent to the charity stripe, where he made both free throws. Buhr would get a monster block back on the other end on Guyette, who then stole the ball back from the Golden Raiders and would slam home an electrifying dunk. Moments later, Rader would thread the needle to Siudzinski for the bucket in the paint. Bryce Ten Pas got a corner triple to go for Sheboygan North.
The Tritons remained up 47-40 with 12:35 to go. The Golden Raiders would make what would be their final push of the night, as Buhr would complete an and-1 and make the free throw. Landon Schramm’s three would bring the game within one, as the Tritons offense would stall. The 46-47 game was still in Notre Dame’s favor. A few possessions later, after Warden’s nice bucket inside, Aaron Heyroth would take a crucial, momentum shifting charge, and the Tritons wouldn’t look back. Austin Hendricks would get an and-1 and make the free throw, followed by Rader getting a putback to go on the next possession, 59-51 with 5:30 to go. It was all Notre Dame to end the game, running away with it and pulling off the upset, 70-53.
With this win, the Tritons improve to 9-14 on the season. “With the season we’ve had and the adversity we have faced, a lot of teams would’ve shut down, these kids have responded well. We’ve been close against some really good teams lately,” said Bobinski. The Tritons will face the 15-2 and second place team in the FRCC, Ashwaubenon, on Saturday, Feb. 24.