Big second half lifts De Pere over Notre Dame

GREEN BAY – With its perfect Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC) record on the ropes, the De Pere boys’ basketball team showed why they’re a force to be reckoned with. 

Trailing 39-21 with 14:27 remaining in their game against Notre Dame Academy, the Redbirds ended the game on a 35-12 run to post a 56-51 victory. 

With the win, De Pere finished a perfect 18-0 in the FRCC for the third consecutive season.

The Redbirds (23-1 overall, 18-0 FRCC) have won 58 straight FRCC games dating to Feb. 2022. 

Zach Kinziger, a Division I commit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, finished with a game-high 27 points, including a trio of free throws in the last five seconds of the game to help seal the victory. 

“It was a great game by both teams, especially on the defensive end – Notre Dame came out and made it tough for us offensively,” Kinziger said. “In the second half, when we were down 18, we dug in and got stops and hit some buckets when we needed to. It was a really good win for us, even though we didn’t play our best game throughout.”

Kinziger said it was his team’s defense that helped it come back from almost 20 down. 

“I’m not sure why we like to wait until the second half to pick up our defense, but we did it tonight and got the victory,” he said. 

Before the game against Notre Dame (18-6, 13-5), Kinziger had missed the last two games due to illness. 

With the Tritons up 42-40 with about five minutes left, Andrew Rader put home a dunk to make it 44-40. 

A bucket and free throw by Kinziger made it 44-43 before Roan Demovsky’s steal and ensuing layup gave the Redbirds their first lead of the game (45-44) since a 5-4 advantage early in the contest. 

“It was a great high school basketball game,” De Pere Coach Brian Winchester said. “I thought both teams competed really hard, and I thought Notre Dame executed really well. We struggled a bit offensively, but that’s a credit to Notre Dame’s defense. I can’t tell you how proud I am of my guys and how they battled back. In the last 14 minutes, we played phenomenal basketball, especially defensively. Being down 18 with 14 minutes to play is getting close to the point of no return.” 

Notre Dame led 27-19 at the break behind a balanced scoring attack, with five players breaking into the scoring column.

Demovsky added 15 points for the Redbirds, while Rader led the Tritons with 14 points. 

Austin Hendricks also had a strong game for Notre Dame with his 11 points. 

The Tritons ended the regular season with three consecutive FRCC losses.