BULLDOGS CALL ON BASICS TO DEFEAT TIGERS

Tuesday night's crosstown clash between the Cape Central and Notre Dame boys basketball teams had the look of an early-season game.

There were plenty of mistakes and not a lot of offense, but the game came down to two important ingredients found in most winning teams: defense and free throws.

The Bulldogs sank 16 of 20 free throws in the contest and got three quick scores with their pressure defense in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 47-45 victory at Central.

Notre Dame improved to 2-0 with the win. Central, only 6 of 15 from the charity stripe, opened its season for the second straight year with a loss to the Bulldogs.

"This was a typical Cape Central-Notre Dame game," said Bulldogs' coach Chris Janet. "A lot of times it's not real pretty, it's just a matter of hanging in and battling. We did a great job of that and were fortunate to win."

Josh Eftink and Jason Rubel led the Bulldogs with 11 points each. Aron Meystedt scored 10 points, including three 3-pointers, to pace the Tigers.

"The keys for us were our defense, especially in the last four minutes of the game, and we hit some big free throws," Janet said. "Toward the end, we really turned it up a notch."

After three quarters, Notre Dame trailed 39-37 and Meystedt's final 3-pointer put the Tigers up 42-37 with about seven minutes to go. But Central's offense shut down from that point. The Bulldogs, who had been using full-court pressure most of the night with no effect, picked up their pace on the defensive end.

"I told our kids the press would hurt them, but we had to turn it up a notch," Janet said. "That was the difference. We went back out the last four minutes and we started getting tenacious.

"We played with the emotion and intensity that you have to play a press and it made a difference."

The result was a six-point swing in the span of a minute that put the Bulldogs ahead for good with 3:10 left. Rubel started the run with a bucket, then Zach Miller converted a turnover into two more points.

Miller struck again on a Tiger inbound play, stealing the ball at midcourt and taking it in for another score that put the Bulldogs ahead 43-42.

"The press hadn't been very effective then all of a sudden it was," said Central coach Brett Reutzel. "We got sloppy running our press offense, but we haven't really worked against full-court pressure yet."

Two free throws by Rubel put Notre Dame up 45-42 with 1:50 left. Central finally broke its scoring drought with a free throw from Ross Conner at the 1:32 mark, but Michael Wehner swished two more free throws in the closing seconds to keep the Bulldogs in control.

Conner dropped home a basket at the buzzer to provide the final score.

Central appeared to control the action for most of the night, opening up with a 6-0 lead and pushing that advantage to 12-4 midway through the first quarter. The Tigers lead 16-12 after the first eight minutes.

Notre Dame came back in the second quarter on the strength of 9 of 10 free-throw shooting to take a 29-27 lead at halftime.

"Notre Dame made us play defense and we didn't do that to them," said Reutzel. "We didn't take bad shots in the first half, but we were a little bit impatient on offense."

Janet was impressed with the defensive play of both teams.

"Neither team really played well offensively, but you have to give credit to Cape Central's defense and give credit to our defense," Janet said. "We fought each other hard."

Notre Dame clinched the junior varsity game 45-44 with a last-second shot by Don Franklin under the basket. Franklin led the Bulldogs with 12 points.

Both teams return to action Friday night, Notre Dame at home against Sikeston and Central on the road against De Soto.