Bulldogs rebound past rival Rams

It's not too often a lack of offensive rebounding will bring a smile to a coach's face.

But there sat Notre Dame coach Darrin Scott in his office Friday night with an impish grin after his team's smooth 75-57 victory at home over rival Scott City.

A new perspective -- stats on his team's shooting --brought on the smile

"I got on them that first quarter because they weren't getting any offensive rebounds," Scott said. "But I guess we only missed three shots, so there wasn't many to get."

No, his team had corrected a problem.

In a previous meeting with Scott City in the quarterfinals of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament, Notre Dame shot just 28 percent in a 52-50 victory.

On Friday, the Bulldogs were downright sizzling.

How hot were they?

Scott City (9-4) shot 57 percent in the opening quarter and still found itself trailing by double figures. Notre Dame (10-5) hit on 11 of 14 shots, or 78 percent.

The Bulldogs went on to hit their first three baskets of the second quarter. Only three of the 14 baskets were layins. The Bulldogs were banking in shots, hit three of four attempts from 3-point range, sank baseline jumpers and added a few free throws to boot.

"They came out on fire," said Scott City forward D.J. Walton, who had a team-high 17 points. "They couldn't miss. We just couldn't stop them."

It all led to Notre Dame's third victory of the week. The Bulldogs will go for a perfect 4-0 week tonight in a makeup game at Kelly High School.

"It was great," said Bulldog senior guard Travis Siebert, who scored a game-high 20 points. "We were ready. I don't know what's going to happen after today, but we were definitely ready today."

Six different Bulldogs scored in the quarter, which ended with Notre Dame leading 28-18.

"That's probably the most we've scored in a quarter this year," Scott said. "That's a lot for us, considering the way we play."

Also considering the way the Bulldogs shoot. The team is hitting less than 30 percent from 3-point range and around 48 percent from 2-point range.

"We haven't been shooting that well lately," said senior Wayne Essner, who had 15 points. "Once we got rolling, everyone got some confidence."

Despite less-than-stellar shooting, the Bulldogs have won two-thirds of their games.

"I think it's made us a better team because we haven't shot well," Scott said. "We've had to focus on rebounding and defense."

Scott City scored the game's first five points and led 12-5 at the 5:15 mark when Walton put in a missed 3-pointer by Mark Dannenmueller.

Notre Dame used a 7-0 spurt to pull even. A basket by Tyler Cuba tied the score at 12-12 and 6-foot-4 center Cory Beussink gave the Bulldogs their first lead, 14-12, by sinking a 17-footer the next trip down the floor.

With the score tied, Siebert put Notre ahead for good, 18-16, when he put back his own blocked shot at the 2:00 mark.

Ahead 20-18, Notre Dame went on an 8-0 spurt in the final 35 seconds of the period. Beussink hit a 3-pointer, Bryce Willen hit a 15-footer and Siebert capped the quarter with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The lead grew to 34-20 less than three minutes into the second quarter. The Bulldogs cooled off to 40 percent shooting in the period but still extended the lead to 40-23 by halftime as Scott City managed just two field goals in the quarter.

The lead never fell below 15 points in the second half.

"Our offense was totally out of sync all night," said Scott City coach Kerry Thompson. "I give all credit to Notre Dame. I thought they played really well. They challenged us, and we didn't come out and accept that challenge. I figured we would, and that kind of disappoints me. I'm not down on our team, but we've got to learn from it."

Willen added 10 points for the Bulldogs, who had 12 players in the scoring column.

Jeremy Schlosser finished with 12 points for Scott City.

jbreer@semissourian.com

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