2023 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Notre Dame shooting overpowers Scott County Central

The final game of the morning session of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament featured the Notre Dame Bulldogs sinking eight three-pointers to put away the Braves of Scott County Central 65-47.

The speed and defensive intensity of the Bulldogs proved too much for Scott County as Notre Dame pulled down almost every rebound and forced many turnovers. Bulldogs head coach Jeremy Brinkmeyer said it is no secret that his team has to play hard on defense to be successful.

“It’s something we've been harping on, and I think today they finally got to see it in person. They got to see that success,” Brinkmeyer said. “I think they kind of fed off of it. They’re just kind of growing into it. Hopefully, we can just continue to build on it for a while.”

Scott County jumped out to a 7-4 lead early, forcing the Bulldogs to use a quick timeout. Notre Dame closed out the first quarter on a 10-0 run to lead the Braves 14-7 after one.

The Bulldogs turned on the triples during the second, starting the quarter on a 14-8 run to push the lead to 28-15 before Scott County used a timeout. The Braves tied Notre Dame 5-5 the rest of the quarter to trail 33-20 at halftime. Kolton Johnson led the Bulldogs from behind the arc with six threes.

Brinkmeyer said it was one of those days when they got open looks. They were knocking them down.

“There were two quarters of the game where we just were taking really quick shots, and there were two quarters of the game where we moved the ball around and got open looks. Those were where we got hot today,” Brinkmeyer said. “I think we could shoot the ball like that a lot of times. We just have to continue to take good shots.”

Notre Dame started the second half on an 8-2 run to push their lead to 41-22 before the Braves used a timeout. After Scott County talked things over, they turned on the full-court-press and got the Bulldogs in foul trouble, going on a 14-8 run to end the third quarter down 14.

Brinkmeyer said when you play a team like Scott County you have to take care of the ball better.

“We kind of freaked out, and we didn't stay within what we're supposed to be doing. It’s a good learning moment for us to refocus and lock in,” Brinkmeyer said. “We played good athletes from Scott County, and if you don't value the ball, that's what's gonna happen. Luckily, we got out of it, and we seek, and we'll just keep trying to value ball over better tomorrow.”

Notre Dame will face the winner of Woodland and Meadow Heights tomorrow at 9 p.m. while Scott County faces the loser of the same game 9 a.m. Wednesday.