Bogan pushes Charleston past ND late

~ The junior scored 10 points in the final three minutes to help the Bluejays win 58-45

It always helps to have a closer.

When things get tight, that one player that can finish the job.

Charleston's got one in Delfincko Bogan.

The 5-foot-10 junior seems to have an extra gear he can kick into late in games and the Charleston Bluejays needed him to find that gear on Friday at Notre Dame in a SEMO Conference matchup.

When Notre Dame fought back from a 12-point deficit to cut the Charleston lead to one with three minutes to go in the game, Bogan took over, scoring 10 points in the final 2 minutes, 45 seconds to lead his team to a 58-45 victory.

Bogan, after missing a one-and-one free throw opportunity earlier in the period, finished 4 for 4 from the line down the stretch and came up with back-to-back steals and layups to turn a close game into a double-digit win.

He finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and six steals as the Bluejays avenged an overtime loss to Notre Dame in the SEMO Conference Tournament.

It was a performance that is becoming the norm for Bogan, who also finished a close game against Poplar Bluff in the SEMO Conference Tournament by scoring 23 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter to lead his team to victory.

Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts looked at it as a missed opportunity for his team but also praised Bogan's abilities.

"We had that one," Roberts said. "If we could've have come back and took the lead that would have been really big for us, but a good player like [Bogan] can put a team on his shoulders and that's what he did. He's a good player. He's a really good player. You can't control him all the time. But they had other guys that really stepped up and made big buckets when they needed it."

For Charleston (8-4), it was an important win headed into its rivalry game against Sikeston at the Show Me Center on Tuesday.

"This is a big win for us," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "That's one of the key reasons we wanted to win this game. We wanted to go into the Sikeston game with a win. We could be going into that game with two or three losses in a row, but we won a tough game against Scott County and now this one."

Notre Dame (6-4) started the game strong, pounding the ball inside and taking an early 10-5 lead.

But Charleston heated up with Bogan, Mike Kellum and Shandor Webster all hitting 3-pointers to give the Bluejays a 20-15 lead after one quarter.

The Bluejays continued to control the game in the second quarter. Robert Bogan's offensive putback with 4:51 left in the half extended the lead to 29-17 to cap a 12-2 run.

Notre Dame settled down and was able to trim the lead to 32-27 by halftime.

Charleston made a key defensive adjustment after the first quarter and was able to contain Notre Dame's post game that was giving it problems early in the contest.

"We wanted to make them throw the ball over our heads," Farmer said. "We wanted to front the inside guy and try to make them throw it over us and the guy on the weak side to come over and help and leave that one guy in the corner to shoot the 3. They were having problems throwing the ball inside because we were putting pressure on the ball."

At the same time, while Notre Dame struggled getting the ball inside, the Bulldogs also couldn't connect from the outside.

"Our post to post feeds weren't there," Roberts said. "We were struggling to pass the ball. They helped inside and we got wide open 3's that we just couldn't hit. We just couldn't hit shots."

The Bulldogs couldn't make much of a dent in the third quarter. They trimmed the lead to 39-35 after a Jordan Williamson basket, but Charleston's Kellum and Demontrail Clark scored on back-to-back offensive putbacks to give the Bluejays a 43-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame started the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 46-45 after a Chase Urhahn 3-pointer from the left corner with three minutes left.

Fifteen seconds later, Bogan hit both ends of a one-and-one to push the Bluejay lead to 48-45.

After Notre Dame misfired on a 3-pointer, Robert Bogan was fouled and sank both free throws with 2:18 left.

Delfincko Bogan then scored the final eight points of the game, including a nice up-and-under scoop shot with 54 seconds left to seal the win.

"We didn't want to give them anything easy," Farmer said. "They weren't hitting those 3's. Normally they're hitting 3's, but they were trying to get it inside. I thought we played a better defensive game against them this time. We have trouble keeping leads, there's no doubt about that. We're trying to work on that. I was happy that we were poised enough right there at the end to stick in and win the game. Going into the game we felt it was anybody's game. That's how the SEMO Conference is. You don't know what's going to happen."

Notre Dame had 30 turnovers in the game and lost the rebounding battle to the Bluejays 31-23 while Charleston had 22 turnovers in the game.

"We did a good job of getting into the halfcourt, but it was just being able to pass the ball and being able to dribble the ball," Roberts said. "We dribbled it off our foot, we traveled a lot, we threw bad passes. They didn't capitalize on our turnovers, but we still had 30-plus. They do a good job defensively, you've got to give them credit. They forced a lot of those turnovers. Eventually we clawed our way back in there and we had two to three 'gimmes' that we just missed. You've got to make those if you want to beat Charleston."

Delfincko Bogan had plenty of help, including 10 points and eight rebounds from his brother Robert Bogan.

Kellum added 11 points, including three 3-pointers. Webster scored eight points with five rebounds and four steals.

Notre Dame had 10 different players reach the scoring column but only one scored double figures -- Jordan Barber with 12 points.

The Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 standout Quinn Poythress scored just two points in limited playing time.

"We knew we had to contain him," Farmer said of Poythress. "He's their main shooter so we always had to make sure we contested his shots."

Charleston 20 12 11 15 -- 58

Notre Dame 15 12 8 10 -- 45

CHARLESTON (58) -- Delfincko Bogan 23, Mike Kellum 11, Robert Bogan 10, Shandor Webster 8, Timontrell Horton 4, Demontrail Clark 2. FG 14, FT 15-18, F 13. (3-pointers: Kellum 3, Webster 1, D. Bogan 1. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (45) -- Jordan Barber 12, Chase Urhahn 6, Hunter Eftink 6, Tanner Shively 6, Dean Crippen 4, Thomas Himmelberg 3, Grant Ressel 3, Jordan Williamson 2, Quinn Poythress 2, Derek Hulshof 2. FG 14, FT 5-11, F 17. (3-pointers: Eftink 2, Urhahn 1, Himmelberg 1. Fouled out: none)