Notre Dame gets hot from three; eliminates Scott County Central

Notre Dame's Will Morgan, center, puts up a shot while Scott County Central's Contravian Banks and Asher Britt defends in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Tuesday in the Show Me Center.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Following a loss in the opening round of the 2022 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said today’s matchup with Scott County Central would be a “wake-up call”.

The Bulldogs answered the call by using a big first half to down the Braves 64-27 on Tuesday morning at the Show Me Center.

“It’s always a tough bounce-back game when you get knocked to this side of the bracket,” Unterreiner said. “I thought our guys responded well. We talked about how it’s not about what happens to you, it’s how you react to it. I thought for the most part our guys did a good job today.”

Notre Dame’s offense got going early and often as they raced out to a 20-7 lead after the first quarter courtesy of three made threes.

The lead would only grow bigger in the second quarter after the Braves got the first bucket to make it 20-9, the Bulldogs went on a 19-0 run to balloon the lead to 30.

“I thought we were unselfish,” Unterreiner said. “I thought we rebounded the ball well and we didn’t make any silly fouls to put them on the free throw line. We just tried to keep it simple and simple led to success today.”

The Bulldogs took a 42-11 lead into the locker room at halftime and had seven made threes in the first half, many of which came from driving the lane and kicking the ball back out.

“All of our bigs did a good job,” Unterreiner said. “When we threw it in there they either took their shot or they knew they had somebody open and they made the extra pass. When you make the extra pass shots tend to go in and the game is a little easier when shots are going in.”

Notre Dame was led by Greg Dennis who had 14 points to lead the Bulldogs' balanced attack. Kolton Johnson followed Dennis’ 14 with 13 points of his own. Reece Callow chipped in 9 points, while Brett Dohogne and Wil Morgan had 7 points each.

The Braves were led by Contravian Banks and Asher Britt who had 8 points a piece.

Scott County Central (0-5) will resume play on Jan. 6 when the Braves travel to take on Scott City at 7:30 p.m. at Scott City High School.

Notre Dame (3-5) awaits the winner of Bell City and Kelly and will play for a spot in the ninth-place game at 12 p.m. tomorrow at the Show Me Center.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Unterreiner said. “We’ll have to be ready to go.”