Oskey, Cohen lead Seymour to win over Bay Port

SEYMOUR - Jon Murphy has a luxury few coaches have. When the going gets tough he has two quality players that can rescue his team from trouble.

Friday night was one of those nights when the Seymour boys basketball team couldn’t find a rhythm against a tough defensive team in Bay Port. Always looking to push the tempo, Seymour was knocked out of its comfort level and was on the verge of losing two games in the same week – unheard of.

But Dakota Oskey and Sandy Cohen were able to find a way Friday. The sensational junior duo combined to score 34 points as the Thunder edged Bay Port, 40-37, in a nonconference contest.

“We have two kids that are pretty special players,” Murphy said. “Most games, you’re looking at 30, 40 points from those two kids. We just need to develop. It sure is nice to have these two guys hold the fort until we get everybody on the same page.”

The 6-foot-3 Oskey scored a game-high 22 points and the 6-5 Cohen added 12 and was a defensive force down low swatting away at least five shots. They also came up huge when the game was being decided. Oskey (11 points) and Cohen (six) scored all of Seymour’s points in the fourth quarter and combined on the game’s biggest play.

Trailing 32-31 with a little over one minute to play, Oskey dribbled right and threw a pass to Oskey on the left wing, behind the 3-point arc. Oskey got maybe his cleanest look of the game and buried the 3-pointer to put Seymour up 34-32 with 1 minute, 9 seconds to play.

The Thunder (3-1) never trailed again and Oskey showed ice in his veins, drilling the shot with ease.

“We had a timeout and set up a little flare play,” Murphy said. “It was the best look he had all night and he knocked it down.”

“It was a flare-screen for me,” Oskey said. “We drew it up and ran it nicely and got up a good shot.”

For most of the game Oskey and Cohen had to rely on their vast offensive repertoire to score. Bay Port (0-2) did a great job making each work, but fortunately for the Thunder its best players never stopped looking for daylight.

“It was tough, they’re a pretty physical team; fast, chasing us around,” Oskey said. “It took us a while to get used to the speed of the game.”

The fact Seymour beat Bay Port with two players doing the bulk of the scoring says something about the Thunder, which was coming off a 57-46 loss at Green Bay Southwest on Tuesday. Seymour wasn’t the toughest-minded team last season and it showed in close games.

This time around, Seymour was tough enough and it paid off.

“Last year, we lose this game by 10 points because we’re too weak,” Murphy said. “We’re a year away from being able to really handle kids.

“Obviously we’re a work in progress.”

But a pretty good work in progress and Murphy couldn’t have been more pleased because Friday's win came after a loss to Southwest.

“That’s a huge night for us,” Murphy said. “Southwest has a nice senior-oriented team, has a nice 6-8 kid (Aaron Moesch); three pretty nice guards. I think they’re going to do well in their conference.

“We need these games, because that’s what it’s going to look like at the end of the year. For us to come out with a win; we have a lot to work on. We battled. We have enough pieces to compete with anybody.”

And two of those pieces will always make Seymour a tough team to beat; just ask Bay Port.

• Notes: A North Dakota scout attended the game and talked with Cohen afterwards. …  Bay Port’s other loss came to Appleton West. … The team’s combined for 32 points in the fourth quarter after combining for 45 in the first three quarters. … Bay Port’s enrollment (1,726) is 1,015 more than Seymour (711).
• Game ball: Oskey, who scored half of his points in the fourth quarter.
• Numbers game: 34 Points Oskey and Cohen combined to score.

SEYMOUR 40, BAY PORT 37
Bay Port….7  9  6  15  —  37
Seymour…9  6  8  17  —  40

Bay Port (0-2)
Steven Minzlaff 12, Peyton Armstrong 6, Ryan Frieder 7, Ryan Grabig 5, Tyler Sagal 5, Ryan Fuglestad 2. 3-PT: Minzlaff 1, Armstrong 1, Frieder 1, Grabig 1, Sagal 1. FT: 4-10. F: 12. Fouled out: Armstrong.
Seymour (3-1)
Dakota Oskey 22, Bret Rottier 4, Sandy Cohen 12, Alex Buchholtz 2. 3-PT: Oskey 2. FT: 6-6. F: 13.

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

doug.ritchay@wluk.com