BULLDOGS SNAP SKID, BEAT SCC

When a timeout was called a couple minutes into the third quarter, Notre Dame High coach Chris Janet burst onto the floor to greet his players with emphatic two-handed high-fives.

It was one of the few times that Janet has had much to be elated about recently. And luckily for Janet, his players matched his enthusiasm.

Behind a career-high 38 points from Dirk Dirnberger, Notre Dame snapped an eight-game losing streak by outshooting visiting Scott County Central 95-78 Tuesday.

Notre Dame last won a game on Jan. 7. It was during that game that Dirnberger injured an ankle. The Bulldogs lost all five games without the 6-foot-6 senior center and the first three after he returned.

Scott Central (14-6) led nearly all of the first quarter and took a 26-21 lead into the second period. Dirnberger then scored 14 points in the second quarter, propelling Notre Dame to 15 of 16 shooting from the field and 33 points in the period.

"We've been having a lot of trouble lately and coach told me I needed to start stepping up and being a leader," said Dirnberger. "It just seemed like every time I shot it went in.

"I'm pretty close, but I'm not 100 percent yet; it's still real sore after a game."

Janet credited Dirnberger for playing well and his team for distributing the ball. Dirnberger took advantage of his team repeatedly breaking the Braves' press, and also dominated the inside in the half court offense.

"Dirk was a man tonight. He was really unstoppable," said Janet, whose team improved to 6-13. "The key was tonight we had kids getting him the ball. Dirk is almost back. He's getting in much better condition and his ankle is feeling better."

Janet said that his plan coming in was to try to slow Scott Central down, but the plan changed when his team started shooting well. The 95 points was a season high for the Bulldogs.

"I didn't feel that we could run with (Scott Central) and outscore them, but that's what we did. Offensively we turned them lose tonight and we shot the ball extremely well, especially in the first half," said Janet.

Scott Central coach Todd Porter said that Notre Dame played much better than its record might indicate and that the Bulldogs played the best he's seen them play this year.

"We really didn't play that bad of defense, they were just unconscious from the field," said Porter. "They played possessed; they played like they are capable of playing. They're a good ball team and I don't care what their record is."

A 9-0 run to close the first half gave Notre Dame a 54-45 lead at halftime. Janet said that his team made some changes defensively at halftime, and the Bulldogs held Scott Central to 14 points in the third quarter and took a 72-59 lead into the fourth quarter.

Scott Central brought the game within nine points, 84-75, with about three minutes left in the game. But Notre Dame outscored the visitors 11-3 in the final three minutes, hitting six of six free throws in the final 1:18.

Notre Dame got big games from two of its sophomores. Guard Zach Miller came off the bench and scored 16 points and Jason Rubel helped Dirnberger inside by scoring 12 points and grabbing a handful of rebounds. Nathan McGuire added 12 points and Chris Canfield had 11.

"Even Rubel stepped it up a lot," said Dirnberger. "He's finally showing that he needs to play varsity. He stepped up big and played good tonight."

For Scott Central, Marcus Blissett had 22 points, John Fort 19, Eric Canady 16 and Corey Gipson 11.

Five of Notre Dame's eight-straight losses came against five Class 2A teams (Kelly, Scott City, Portageville, Bernie and Woodland). The Bulldogs haven't had as much trouble with teams in their class in recent years.

"It was a big win for us," said Janet. "It was a long time coming."