The Notre Dame boys’ basketball team took down rival Bay Port 69-64 on the road on Friday, securing their third consecutive win and first-ever season sweep against the Pirates in program history. 

Senior Keegan King led the Tritons with 21 points on 10/13 shooting, also tallying six rebounds and three assists. Senior Chris Mitchell also put up 19 points in the win, enough to eclipse 900 career points and become the fourth-leading scorer in program history.

“It was awesome to finally be the first team in program history to sweep Bay Port,” King said. “It means a lot to us. We put a lot of work into this. It was just amazing.”

Not only did varsity take care of business against the Pirates in both games this season, but all junior varsity levels won in both games this season, a statement attesting to the new culture laid out by new head coach Brian Bobinski.

“I was really happy for our players,” Bobinski said. “Things didn’t go our way early in the game and I was proud of how they handled the adversity. It’s a big step for this group to handle the negativity, not let it get to them and find a way to win. Obviously, it was a huge night for Notre Dame basketball.”

Offensively, the Tritons were led by King and Mitchell, but defensively, senior Daniel Hornacek came up big when it mattered most. 

Hornacek was tasked with guarding Bay Port junior AJ Lieuwen, who came into the game as top-five in scoring in the Fox River Classic Conference. He held Lieuwen to just 10 points on 3-9 shooting. Hornacek also came up with two major steals in clutch time, helping seal the victory.

“I take great pride in playing defense,” he said. “Maximizing my impact on the game is my goal, and whether it is offense or defense, I try to help the team whichever way I can.”

“Dan’s defense is by far the best on our team,” King said. “He’s always taking the best guard out there, giving him as much trouble as he can. I knew as soon as he got that second steal that it was over. He’s definitely the hardest-working defender out there.”

The Tritons (14-4, 10-2) move into the next week on their schedule with two home games against Pulaski (4-13, 1-12) and Manitowoc Lincoln (7-11, 5-8) before a tilt with De Pere with major conference implications on February 15th.

While both of their opponents are below .500 on the season, the Tritons know they have business to take care of this week. In the previous matchups with both teams, Notre Dame only won by a combined 14 points.

“The De Pere game doesn’t matter unless we take care of the games we have this week,” Bobinski said of the rematch. “We did not put forth our best effort against Pulaski last time and Manitowoc was only a three-point game so there’s no reason we should be looking past either at all.”

“Coach has always been saying we can’t overlook anybody,” King said. “We have to focus on one game at a time and get the job done.”