BULLDOGS FINALLY BITE RAMS

After Notre Dame's 68-56 victory over Scott City Friday night, Jonathan Ressel had a four-year script written on his face.

That simple, aw-shucks grin seemed to say it all -- finally, we beat Scott City.

For the first time in seven tries and the first time since Dec. 30, 1995, the Notre Dame Bulldogs (11-3) knocked off their fiercest rival, the Scott City Rams (8-5).

Ressel scored just 12 points -- the third highest on his team -- but the win likely meant more to him, as a Kelso native, than any other player on the team.

"I've been hearing it from everybody," said Ressel, who added several assists, rebounds and perhaps the biggest basket of the game -- a breakaway dunk. "This is awesome. We wanted to get this win over Scott City."

The Bulldogs no doubt proved it as Notre Dame, in front of a capacity crowd, played and sustained high intensity throughout the game. Scott City came out on fire, scoring on seven of its first nine possessions and led 16-7 less than five minutes into the game.

But the Rams wouldn't back down. Scott City held several leads in the second quarter, but an 18-9 run by Notre Dame -- which included Ressel's dunk -- during a 6-minute span in the third quarter proved to be the difference. Scott City's final lead of the game was 36-35 with 6:11 remaining in the third quarter.

"I thought the second quarter we didn't go to the offensive glass," said Notre Dame coach Darrin Scott. "They killed us on the boards in the second quarter. It seemed every time they got a shot and missed they'd get a putback. That was the main adjustment we tried to make at halftime."

"We've been coming out in the third quarter and playing well," said senior Mark Rubel. "We just do what coach says and it's been working."

Perhaps the biggest difference in the game was that Notre Dame hit shots and Scott City didn't.

Notre Dame shot 54 percent from the field, while the smaller Rams made just 34 percent. The Rams were hampered a bit as their biggest outside threat, Ben Sample, had to play through a sprained shooting wrist. Sample scored 13 points but missed some shots he might have normally made.

"We just didn't make shots," said Scott City coach Derek McCord. "That's the bottom line. I know defense wins championships but you have to put the ball in the basket. For their size advantage, I thought we battled with them."

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, were hitting shots from everywhere.

Rubel had the biggest night, scoring a season-high 23 points. He hit three three-pointers.

"We've been working hard all through the week," Rubel said. "We came out ready. We knew we were going to play hard and we knew we could beat them. I just loved the environment we played in tonight. It was awesome."

Doug Schaefer scored 16 points for Notre Dame with eight of them coming in the second quarter.

Scott City's Nick Steimle scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the first half.