Bulldogs chomp on Hawks 66-47

Notre Dame opens large lead early in improving to 8-4.

By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian

The way Kelly coach Nick Lanpher put it, the Hawks didn't stand much of a chance.

"Notre Dame has more depth than we do," he said. "We don't get to rest our boys as much."

"Notre Dame has more size than us," he added. "And they're quick and real disciplined. Beating a team like that on their home floor is tough."

And so the Bulldogs (8-4) outlasted, outsized, outran and out-disciplined Kelly 66-47 Friday night at Notre Dame Regional High School.

The Hawks (1-7) were never really in the game. Notre Dame led 24-13 after the first quarter and led 32-13 early in the second quarter.

Kelly managed to cut its deficit to 39-27 by halftime and 41-31 midway through the fourth quarter, but Notre Dame answered every run with one of its own.

Notre Dame's Travis Siebert led all scorers with 20. He hit four 3-pointers, but fouled out of the game when he was hit with a technical in the fourth quarter. Cory Beussink scored 14 points, 13 coming in the first half and Scott Wittenborn added 13.

For Kelly, Major Burger led the way with 17 points, while Tyler Schlosser pitched in with 15.

Notre Dame played perhaps its best offense of the year in the first half. The Bulldogs hit nine of their first 15 shots. Beussink and Siebert couldn't miss, scoring nine and seven, respectively, in the first eight minutes alone.

Kelly, meanwhile, hit just three of its 13 shots of the first quarter.

"I thought we came out ready to play; came out focused," Notre Dame coach Darrin Scott said. "Defensively, we guarded well."

Notre Dame didn't come out near as sharp in the second half, missing nine of its first 11 shots.

"We kind of let down once we got up by about 20," said Beussink. "That's something we've got to work on, keeping our intensity at all times."

Kelly, which prefers an up-tempo game, was just 18 of 57 (32 percent) from the field, including 3 of 10 from 3-point range.

Notre Dame, which had three starters playing at less than 100 percent from injury or illness, was 24 of 55 overall and 6 of 15 from behind the arc.