2023 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Notre Dame locks downs Charleston, claims third

Fighting to prove why it earned the No. 4 seed in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, Notre Dame rallied from an early deficit to claim a 50-37 victory over the Charleston Blue Jays in the third-place game.

Avenging two earlier losses to the Blue Jays by an average of 15 points per game, Notre Dame did well to lock Charleston down defensively and grab a big revenge win on the Show Me Center hardwood.

“I thought we executed really well,” Bulldogs coach Jeremy Brinkmeyer said. “We had three things that we really wanted to focus on and we stayed on it the whole game. We beat a really good team in Charleston.”

Their highest finish since 2020, the Bulldogs rebounded from a tough loss to Cape Central with an impressive victory against third-seeded Charleston after keeping the Jays’ post duo ice cold.

Trading some leads early, Charleston crawled forward in momentum late in the quarter and powered its way to an 11-7 lead after the first quarter.

Notre Dame's Brett Dohogne drives toward the basket against Charleston in the third-place game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 30 at the Show Me Center.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

The fight didn’t stop for Notre Dame, however, quickly jumping back to grab a 17-14 lead with 1:37 left in the second quarter as the Bulldogs called for a loose ball timeout.

Holding Charleston’s electric forward to a 1-point first half, Notre Dame minimized the effects of tournament-leading point forward Ko’Terrion Owens early, and it helped the Bulldogs build a 21-15 lead going into the half.

“Ko’Terrion Owens is not talked about enough in this area,” Brinkmeyer said. “He is a fantastic player and a great leader. We did a good job of trying to slow him down the best we could.

“We were really focusing on keeping him out of the paint, and I thought that as a team, we did a pretty decent job of that.”

That run ceased with Owens’ two quick buckets to start the second quarter, and Charleston fought its way back into the game after dominating the boards to start the second half.

But, as the quarter developed, Owens’ takeover left him injured on the baseline and, though he came back in, he couldn’t get Charleston back into the game in the third as Notre Dame finished on top at 35-28.

Notre Dame’s lead just grew as the fourth progressed, grabbing a big and-1 early and cruising to a double-digit lead soon after.

Notre Dame's Kolton Johnson dribbles the ball as Charleston's Adrian Rodgers, right, chases in the third-place game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 30 at the Show Me Center.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Finished with a 50-37 win to grab the third-place title, Notre Dame capped off its deep tournament win with a big rebound dub over a familiar foe.

Brett Dohogne’s 16 points led the way for the Bulldogs, while a 13-point night from MVP-candidate Kolton Johnson paced him on the stat sheet.

For the Blue Jays, Ko’Terrion Owens finished with an 11-point night after his one point in the first 16 minutes.

Getting back to where the program left off, Notre Dame established itself as one of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament’s premier teams after spending a few years on the wrong side of Day 4 action.

Despite some rough season-opening conference losses to Charleston and a 1-5 record going into the tournament, Notre Dame rebounded and picked up a signature win over the Blue Jays to get it back closer to where it wants to be.

Brinkmeyer hit on how the tournament has helped to establish a better identity for the Bulldogs as they leave the tournament just two games below .500.

“I felt like we found our identity a little bit defensively. We made things a little simpler, and we’re starting to just fly around and just play.”