Wednesday, September 11, 2024
By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
SUAMICO – Make that five wins in a row for the Bay Port boys’ basketball team.
Behind a fast start, smothering defense and balanced scoring, the Pirates cruised to a 79-46 Fox River Classic Conference victory over Ashwaubenon Feb. 1 at Bay Port High School.
Since a 69-54 loss to Sheboygan North Jan. 8, the Pirates (10-5 overall, 9-3 FRCC) have been playing their best ball of the season.
“This is how I really envisioned us playing,” said Bay Port head coach Nate Rykal. “We came out really hard defensively and forced some early turnovers. With (Ashwaubenon) beating Green Bay Southwest recently, we knew we had to be prepared. I think our aggressiveness shocked them a little bit. They just came off beating the best team in the league, so we wanted to get to them right off the bat. Ashwaubenon is a better team than what they showed tonight. When we play good defense, we are a tough team to beat. We are looking forward to the next few weeks.”
The Jags (6-9, 4-8) posted a 63-57 win over Southwest Jan. 25, which at the time was undefeated and the No. 3 ranked Division 3 team in the state.
“We are a young team, but we can no longer use that as an excuse,” said Ashwaubenon head coach Chris Karcz, whose team committed 19 turnovers and shot just 30 percent from the floor against the Pirates. “We came out flat and Bay Port outplayed us in every facet of the game. They played harder than we did and played with more intensity.”
According to Karcz, it was a crazy week with the weather, which was a little too much to overcome for his squad after the big win last week.
“We didn’t have much school this week and we only practiced one time,” Karcz added. “Hopefully it’s something we can look at and learn from. We have to come prepared for each game no matter what the circumstances are.”
The Pirates jumped out to a 28-9 lead halfway through the first half and coasted from there.
Bay Port’s Ethan Begotka led all scorers with 15 points, all of which came in the first half.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and get to the rim,” said Begotka, a 6-foot-3 junior guard/forward. “I had a good week of practice and the coaches were telling me to be patient and get out and run. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball on the fast break and I was able to finish.”
Begotka’s play impressed Rykal as well.
“Ethan was very aggressive and did a great job going to the basket,” Rykal said. “He made good decisions and ran the floor really well. You can call them easy buckets, but to run that hard is not that easy – he makes it look easy and runs like a deer. It’s fun to watch him play that well.”
The Pirates’ Mohamed Salem scored the first six points of the game in a minute’s time to force an early Ashwaubenon timeout.
From there, Karcz was forced to call two more timeouts in the next eight minutes to try and settle his team down.
Andrew Thomas, who scored 11 points for Bay Port, posted eight quick points to start the second half to increase the lead to 48-18.
The Pirates shot 60 percent from the field and had a 38-point lead at one point late in the game.
Logan Geissler (12) and Chris Farrington (11) also scored in double digits for Bay Port, which had a dozen players hit the scoring column.
Thomas had one of his most complete games of the year in adding six assists, five rebounds and five steals.
The Jags were led by Matt Imig’s 10 points.
Box score
Ashwaubenon: 16, 30 – 46
Bay Port: 39, 40 – 79
Jags: Tomashek 3, Imig 10, Wendorf 2, Purull 2, Morgan 6, Krueger 6, Wagner 6, Steinfest 7, Nooyen 4.
Pirates: Begotka 15, Plummer 4, Farrington 11, Weber 2, Thomas 11, Salem 8, Henkel 5, Geissler 12, Kozak 3, Plumb 2, Forystek 2, Bruntz 4.
