Pirates Have No Magic Left for the Thunder

The dejected looks told the story – their season was over.

A night after coming back from a seven-point halftime deficit against Beaver Dam in the sectional semifinals, the boys basketball team had no more magic left.

The Pirates saw their season come to a screeching halt with a 60-42 loss to the Seymour Thunder in a WIAA Division 2 sectional final game at the Brown County Arena on Saturday night.

Port was attempting to get back to state for the first time since 2007, while Seymour captured its 11th sectional title since 1996, and will face Whitefish Bay in the state semifinals on Friday.

“(Seymour) was big inside,” said Port Washington coach John Bunyan. “We tried to match their physicality, but we got called for some fouls there early.  But to their credit, they hit some big shots.  They rank right up there with some of the teams we play in the North Shore. They’ve got confidence and a lot of tradition.

“Having (Kyle) Rismeyer and (Shane) Kennedy on the bench for a large part of the second period hurt us.”

Rismeyer and Kennedy, who had 16 and 12 points respectively in the semifinal win over Beaver Dam, each picked up two quick fouls and were forced to sit out a large chunk of the first half.

“Our guys were playing hard in the first (half),” Bunyan said of the foul discrepancy. “I thought we were playing good basketball. I can see calling a foul here and there, but (the officials) called it like they saw it.”

Port Washington had 10 team fouls before intermission, compared to Seymour’s three. The Pirates had double the fouls Seymour did for the game at 24 to 12. 

Port came out aggressive in the opening period and began the game on a 6-0 run before Seymour finally scored at the 4:30 mark. 

Seymour’s Calahan Skogman took over in the second period when he scored 13 points, and the Pirates had no answer.  The Thunder took a 26-19 lead into halftime, the same score the Pirates were down against Beaver Dam at halftime.

“We felt really good at half,” said Bunyan.  “We thought we’d get the calls to go our way in the second (half) and things would swing a little bit that way, but we missed a bunch of layups and free throws, that hurt us. 

“(Skogman) shot the ball really well in the second and we didn’t do a very good job of keeping him off the boards.”

The importance of Rismeyer was never more evident than in the third period. After sitting out most of the first half with foul trouble, Rismeyer dominated the quarter after halftime.  He had seven points – four of which were scored on offensive rebounds - and a blocked shot, but Port was still down 41-32 entering the fourth. 

The Pirates were outscored 19-10 in the final frame.  Seymour ended the game by scoring the last eight points via free throws to put the game away.

“I’m extremely proud of everyone on the team,” Bunyan said of the Pirates’ season.  “Our goal at the beginning of the year was to get to state, but we came up a little short. We learned as the season went on and got hot here at the end, and we won some great games.”

Even though Port saw its season come to an end, the future looks bright with a good core of players returning.

“We’ve got some great kids coming back,” said Bunyan.  “I’ve been doing this basketball coaching for about five years now, and you learn that there are ups and downs.  You have to just stay positive and stay the course.”

Port Washington will lose Marcus Lackovic, Joey McIlree, Luke Schueller, Shane Kennedy and Alex Sparr to graduation.

Box Score

Port Washington: Rismeyer 11, Mosley 8, Schueller 7, Kennedy 5, McIlree 3, Burbach 2, Weiland 2, Graf 2, Hauser 2.  3-pt: Schueller 1, Mosley 1.  FT: 10-14.  F: 24.

Seymour: Rottier 15, Skogman 15, Romback 13, Hornick 10, VonBrevern 5, Oskey 2.  3-pt: Skogman 2, Hornick 2, VonBrevern 1.  FT: 19-25.  F: 12.