This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Port Boys Make Second Half Comeback to Advance to Sectional Finals

Pirates advance to a sectional championship matchup with Seymour.

It was the story of two halves for the Port Washington boys’ basketball team Friday.

A week after taking down No. 1 seed Plymouth, the Pirates fell behind early in their WIAA Division II sectional semifinal game against Beaver Dam, only to come storming back in the second half in a 52-43 victory at Brown County Arena in Green Bay.

“We came out with a different mindset in the second half,” Pirates coach John Bunyan said. “We said we were going to pressure a bit more and ran a full man right away (to start the second half), and then our one-three-one got them out of their rhythm. They were still looking for their three’s and we were just fortunate that they missed some shots.”

Find out what's happening in Port Washington-Saukvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Beaver Dam (16-9) took a 26-19 lead into the half, with the Pirates (13-11) committing seven turnovers in the first two quarters. The Beavers’ R.J. Shelton had 11 points before the intermission, but only had four the rest of the way.

“We talked about it at half,” Bunyan said of Shelton. “He was (five-for-five) in the first half and he was on fire. He was coming off some high-ball screens and we weren’t doing a good job off of it. In the second half we pressured him so much that when he did get the ball, he was 20 feet from the basket."

Find out what's happening in Port Washington-Saukvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I told my guys that we were just lazy in the first half to the ball. We were slow to it and Beaver Dam was just out-working us — getting some second shots and we turned the ball over too many times that led to some easy points for them.”

The Pirates opened the second half with a 7-0 run to pull even at 30 with about five minutes to go in the third period. 

Beaver Dam took a 37-33 lead into the fourth by closing the third quarter on a 7-3 surge.

Port Washington used a 19-6 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter and hit several key free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Kyle Rismeyer led the Pirates with 16 points, while Shane Kennedy and Joe Burbach each chipped in 12. Kennedy led Port with 10 rebounds. 

“We fed (Rismeyer) some aggressiveness,” Bunyan said. “He played really well (Friday) and was very active. He’s a kid that gets really nervous at the beginning and we have to tell him to calm down, but he’s got some tremendous skills and really was clutch.”

Port Washington will play Seymour (22-3), a 60 – 50 winner over Two Rivers, on Saturday night at 6:30 for the Division II sectional championship.

“What a gift,” said Bunyan of playing Seymour. “I’ve seen Seymour a bit on film and then (against Two Rivers). They are big, long and have some really good guard play. We are definitely going to have our hands full against a very good basketball team. It will come down to defense, rebounding and turnovers."

Port Washington hasn't reached state since 2007.

 

Beaver Dam 14 12 11   6 – 43

Port Washington   8 11 14 19 – 52

Beaver Dam: Shelton 15, Heuer 13, Salzwedel 10, Schmitt 3, Turck 2. 3-pt: Heuer 2, Shelton 1. FT: 6-14. F: 13.

Port Washington: Rismeyer 16, Kennedy 12, Burbach 12, McIlree 7, Mosley 3, Schueller 2. 3-pt: Burbach 1. FT: 11-17. F: 13.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Port Washington-Saukville