Bulldogs edge Oakville 65-63

Notre Dame's boys' basketball team withstood a perfect first-quarter shooting performance and a late comeback from visiting Oakville to hold on for a 65-63 win Saturday.

Oakville shot 10-for-10 from the field in the first quarter and led 23-15. Notre Dame (15-6) slowly chipped away at the lead and trailed 37-31 at halftime.

"After that it was kind of a battle to get back in it," Bulldogs coach Darrin Scott said.

In the second half Notre Dame stepped up its defense pressure. Notre Dame cut the lead to three points at the end of the third quarter and had grabbed a four-point lead with less than two minutes left in the game.

"We really picked up our defensive intensity quite a bit," Scott said.

After the Bulldogs missed the front end of a one-and-one with one minute remaining, Oakville scored to cut the lead to two points. The Bulldogs turned the ball over on their next possession and with 11 seconds left Oakville pulled even at 63. But with four seconds left, Tyler Cuba took a pass from a penetrating Travis Siebert and buried an eight-footer to give the Bulldogs the lead and the win.

"He shot the ball really well tonight," Scott said of Cuba.

The Bulldogs were led by Cory Beussink's 20 points. Cuba added 14 and Wayne Essner had 12.

Central 69, Riverview Gardens 51

Central followed up Friday's impressive win over Oakville with an 18-point victory over visiting Riverview Gardens.

Riverview went as big as 6-foot-7, 6-9, 6-5 and 6-4 on the floor at one point in the game. Despite being dominated size-wise, which translated into a 47-30 rebounding advantage for Riverview, Central (15-6) used a variety of presses to force 19 turnovers.

The Tigers jumped out of the gate early with three quick baskets from Jake Knepp and led by two after the first quarter. Riverview kept it close and trailed by one at halftime.

Out of the half the Tigers went to a man-to-man fullcourt press, forcing 12 second-half turnovers. Central used its press to outscore Riverview 23-11 in the third quarter and put the game out of reach.

The Tigers used a balanced scoring attack, led by Ryan Delph's 19 points. Scott Chestnutt added 15, Anthony Harris 12 and Will Johnson 10. Chestnutt led the Tigers in rebounds with nine; Delph and Harris each had eight.

The Central junior varsity squad improved to 14-3 with a 53-50 win. Eli Harris led the Tigers with 13 points and Anthony Mead had 10.

MVC Tournament

Leopold upset top-seeded, host Meadow Heights 70-65 to claim the Mississippi Valley Conference Tournament title.

Leopold was led by Kevin Holzum with 22 points and Brandon Bueter with 14. Josh Vandeven had 13 and Lucas Horrell added 10.

"Leopold is well coached and well disciplined and they just outplayed us," Meadow Heights coach Thomas Brown said. "We didn't bring our 'A' game today."

Josh Fulton led Meadow Heights (13-5) with 24 points and Joey Bell and Brad Adams each had 12.

Chaffee took third place after defeating Zalma 69-59.

Sam Burnett led all scorers with 23 points for Chaffee. Zac Horman hit four 3-pointers and ended with 14 points. James Reischman had 13 and Brent Thomason 11.

Nick Hartman led Zalma with 20 points. Chad and Curt Wiseman each had 11 and Jamie Mangrum added 10.

Oak Ridge defeated Marquand in the fifth-place game 59-52.

Zach Ruesler paced Oak Ridge with 18 points and Alex Fadler put in 17.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

Rosati-Kain 50, Central 48

Central missed a last-second shot and dropped a heart-breaker on the road.

The Tigers (11-8) trailed 23-21 at halftime and pulled to within one after three quarters. Central's comeback attempt fell short in the end though.

Alex Wieser led Central with 19 points and Anna Brisso had 11.

Fisher-Pro Line Invitational

After losing its semifinal game to top-seeded St. Joseph's Friday night, Jackson bounced back to capture third place with a 35-32 win over No. 2 Jefferson City at the Fisher-Pro Line Invitational at Maryville University in St. Louis.

Jackson (13-7), seeded fourth, trailed 21-16 at halftime but bounced back with a big third quarter. The Indians outscored Jefferson City 12-7 in the third to grab the lead for good.

Jenna Leet and Maria Oehl led Jackson with 12 points apiece.

WRESTLING

Central advances four

Central's Trever Duncan moved on to sectionals with a first-place finish at the Class 2, District 1 meet hosted by Ste. Genevieve.

Duncan moved his record to 39-2, going 3-0 in the district to move past the school's previous single-season win record of 36. Duncan defeated St. Genevieve's Nick Bauman for the third time this season with a 6-4 decision.

Central's Brandon Hinkle, Cory Huskey and Jason Poole all finished fourth and will move on to the sectional meet next Saturday at Farmington. All three wrestlers went 2-2 on the day.

No Jackson results were available from the Class 3, District meet in House Springs.

-- From staff reports