Appleton North boys basketball opens season with road win at Bay Port
AppletonSportsPage.com
SUAMICO – The Appleton North boys basketball team was able to close out the game at the free throw line, finishing 16-for-18 at the charity stripe, and defeated Bay Port 77-72 in a nonconference game to open its 2024-25 season on Tuesday night at Bay Port High School.
The Lightning led 34-30 at halftime and in a back-and-forth affair were able to finish off the win as Sweeney made all six of his free throw attempts and Nathan Ramus was 7-for-8 at the line in the second half.
Ramus finished with 22 points, Sweeney added 18 and Grant Hardy 16 for the Lightning, who also had huge performances from freshmen Matt Rosplochowski and Ethan Arft.
Playing in their first varsity games, Rosplochowski scored eight of his 11 points and Arft had all seven of his points in the second half as Appleton North was able to hold on for the victory.
Appleton North finished with 11 3-pointers, one more than Bay Port, which included three each from Hardy and Rosplochowski.
Sawyer Durke had 19 points to lead Bay Port (1-1).
Appleton North will open its Fox Valley Association season at home against Hortonville on Friday as part of a girls-boys doubleheader. The girls game starts at 6 p.m., with the boys to follow at approximately 7:45 p.m.
Lightning 77, Pirates 72
Appleton North 34 43 – 77
Bay Port 30 42 – 72
APPLETON NORTH (77): Will Sweeney 4 8-8 18, Matt Rosplochowski 4 0-0 11, Nathan Ramus 7 7-8 22, Grant Hardy 6 1-2 16, Abraham Tomori 1 0-0 3, Ben Zdzieblowski 0 0-0 0, Ethan Arft 3 0-0 7. FG: 25. FT: 16-18. 3-pointers: 11 (Hardy 3, Rosplochowski 3, Sweeney 2, Ramus 1, Tomori 1, Arft 1). Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 1-0.
BAY PORT (72): Mikey Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Connor Gering 4-8 0-0 10, Sawyer Durke 7-10 1-1 19, Parker Janus 0-0 0-0 0, Roman Binns 0-4 0-0 0, Mondes Kelly 6-8 0-1 13, Noah Thomas 3-6 1-2 7, Caden Hendricks 3-4 1-2 9, Maddox Cornette 6-12 1-2 14. FG: 29-52. FT: 4-8. 3-pointers: 10-20 (Durkee 4-5, Gering 2-3, Hendricks 2-3, Kelly 1-1, Cornette 1-4, Binns 0-2). Fouls: 14. Fouled out: Kelly. Record: 1-1.