Offense starts in first gear for Port boys

Port Washington High School boys’ basketball coach Brian Hebein knows the offense will come around despite last week’s low output to start the season.

The Pirates lost, 63-42, to West Bend East on Dec. 1 and 48-41 to Slinger last Thursday.

“Even though we’ve gotten off to a little bit of a slow start offensively, I think we’ll be OK shooting the basketball this year,” Hebein said.

The Pirates lost sharpshooter Evan Lilly, who at 15.5 points per game made the North Shore Conference third team last year, to graduation — he now plays for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Second-leading scorer Tamai McCoy-Jackson, a guard who averaged 12.4 points per game, also graduated.

Junior point guard Aedan Egan has picked up the slack so far, scoring 16 points, including four three-pointers, against East and 15 against Slinger.

“He has had a nice start,” Hebein said.

Junior guard Mikey Ross, who averaged 6.7 points per game last season, is another player stepping into a bigger role.

“He can really get it going. He’s not anonymous anymore. People know he can shoot the basketball,” Hebein said.

Senior Nick Burmesch and sophomore Ryan Burmesch, each standing 6 feet, 4 inches tall, can play inside out.

“It should help if we get them in some favorable match-ups,” Hebein said. “They can step out, hit some threes and get into the post.”

The Pirates only have one senior — Nick Burmesch — but some of the younger players, including Egan, Ross, Ryan Burmesch and junior Patrick Lippe, have experience.

“It’s just that it’s young experience. They’re starting to figure out how to do things the right way,” Hebein said.

Defensively, the Pirates are “pounding those man-to-man principles,” Hebein said.

They may struggle on the boards against taller teams. West Bend East took advantage on the offensive glass.

“We’re going to have to be scrappy. We have to make sure all five box out and we have to gang rebound,” Hebein said.

Against East, the Suns took a 30-17 halftime lead. The Pirates cut the deficit to four in the second half but couldn’t come all the way back. They only committed 13 turnovers but shot 6-for-24 on three-pointers and only got to the free throw line eight times.

“We didn’t create enough opportunities for ourselves to get the ball in the basket,” Hebein said.

For East, Evan Roell scored 16 points to lead a trio of Suns in double figures.

Against Slinger, the Pirates played tougher and the game was tied at 40 with less than two minutes to play. A couple of open three-pointers for the Pirates went halfway down before popping out. Instead, the Owls took the lead and Port had to foul at the end to try to get the ball back.

“We knew we needed to come out and play a lot harder, especially on the defensive end. I thought our guys responded to the challenge. We were doing some good things, diving on the floor for loose balls,” Hebein said.

“It was a good competitive game. It was fun to see some of the progress the guys made as far as what it takes to play at the varsity level.”

Besides Egan’s 15 points, Ross had eight and Ryan Burmesch had seven.

Matt Schaffer had 16 points for the Owls. Jack Murray had 11.

Port is yet to be at full strength due to contact tracing and injuries. Playing while wearing masks takes some getting used to.

“It’s not even fun to coach in it,” Hebein said.

But the season is off and running, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We don’t take any of it for granted. It’s great to be playing,” Hebein said.

The Pirates were to play at Nicolet on Tuesday, host West Bend West on Friday and play at Cedarburg on Tuesday, Dec. 15.