Central basketball team nips Notre Dame for SEMO Confernce consolation title

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Central boys basketball team has only had four practices this season, leaving little time for them to develop as a team.

But with 33 seconds to play and a three-point lead over cross-town rival Notre Dame in the SEMO Conference consolation championship, Central coach Drew Church told the Tigers not to worry about the outcome and only focus on "playing their type of game".

More importantly, Church wanted his players to prevent Notre Dame from getting an open look from beyind the arc, especially senior Quinn Poythress, who had hit two earlier in the game and was a threat the Tigers were closely guarding on Friday night.

Central was unable to do that and instead, the ball was inbounded by the Bulldogs and quickly passed down the court to Poythress, who had a look from the corner with 10 seconds to go. His shot hit the rim and bounced out, but Notre Dame's Thomas Himmelberg boxed out a Central defender, grabbed the rebound and threw a pass back to Poythress, who had moved to the top of the 3-point line. Poythress put up a second shot with three seconds left that hit the front of the rim and bounced back to him. He tried another 3, but time expired before he could get the shot off, giving second-seeded Central a 53-50 win over No. 4 Notre Dame at Sikeston High School.

"Usually we foul in that situation and we haven't had time to work on it and get it right. My fear is if we foul on a 3 then that's what you get, so we just wanted to contest 3s and not let them get some of the looks they had been getting," Church said about the final seconds of the game. "We gave them an offensive rebound and Poythress isn't going to miss too many of those. We were very fortunate that it didn't go in, but you know, it's going to be fun to play Notre Dame in the future. I think it's a very good rivalry, and they're a good team."

The Bulldogs had fought back from a 47-42 defecit with four minutes, 17 seconds to play. Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said he was feeling confident in the way his players were running the offense and felt that there was no reason to call a timeout and draw up a play.

Notre Dame's Quinn Poythress takes a shot as Central's Chase Hagerty defends during the first quarter of the consolation final in the SEMO Conference Tournament Friday, Dec. 12, 2014 in Sikeston, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"There wasn't a play drawn up," Unterreiner said. "I said, 'Let's go run our offense, we're getting good looks at it,' and we did. We got a wide-open 3 look, missed it and I thought about calling a time out on the rebound, but you don't get a better look than a kick-back three and we just missed it. That happens. I'll live and die by those guys shooting those shots all night long."

Poythress, who missed his final four shots for the Bulldogs, said he knew he couldn't pass up on any of the open looks down the stretch. He finished with a team-high 20 points.

"I wasn't fortunate enough to get it to go, then I looked under the basket after the miss and I realized we got a rebound and got it kicked out. I got another good look and that didn't fall. We've got to make shots and hopefully that'll come later in the season," Poythress said.

Central built an early 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Notre Dame turned the ball over on three of its first six possessions, but the Bulldogs found a way to come back and went on a 10-4 run in the final four minutes of the first. Himmelberg hit two 3-pointers in that stretch, including one that tied the game with 10 seconds remaining in the period.

The Bulldogs went on a 14-9 run to start the second quarter and held a 27-21 lead, their largest of the game, with 1:29 left before halftime. Poythress accounted for seven of Notre Dame's second quarter points and added three rebounds.

Central missed on its next three possessions, but Central senior Al Young came up with a key steal with seven seconds remaining, dribbled the ball down the court and put in a layup as time expired to put the Tigers within six.

Unterreiner said he was happy with Notre Dame's performance in the first half. His message to his players in the locker room was to not let up on a talented Central team.

"The message was to keep pushing," Unterreiner said. "You can't give a good team a chance to come back. You can't let off and we let off. We gave Al [Young] a chance, and when you give him a chance he's going to take advantage of it. He's a phenominal player and just a phenominal athlete. We have to contain him and we dodn't do that in the second half."

Central scored 16 points in the third quarter, with half of them coming from Young.

Notre Dame scored five straight points to open the second half, but Young and the Tigers answered with a flurry of baskets.

Jalen Reddin hit a mid-range jumper with 7:13 remaining in the quarter. Two possessions later, Young was fouled on a shot and hit two free throws.

With the Tigers trailing by seven with 3:41 remaining, Central went on a 8-0 run to take a 37-36 lead. Young hit two jump shots and a free throw, while Andre Statam added a 3.

Statam said it felt like a breakthrough game for Young, who guided the Tigers' offense in the second half.

"Al stepped it up today and kind of came out of his shell," Statam said. "He knew he could drive and they would take charges, which meant they was standing still, so he got around them. This early in the season it's good for him."

Young added 10 points in the fourth and finished with a game-high 24 points to lead the Tigers. Young admitted he's still in football mode to an extent, but said his basketball game is improving.

"It was kind of a breakout game, like it kind of opened up how I'm going to be for the rest of the year," Young said. "I've been in so much football shape, so I can't really get to the hole. I've been out of control. I've been trying to slow down, so I'll learn to slow down a little bit and find people and get to the hole."

Shutting down Young and preventing him from getting to the rim was something Notre Dame talked about at halftime, according to Poythress, but the Bulldog's 6-foot-7 forward said Young's quickness and athleticism eluded them.

"We know they've got great athletes. That's obvious," Poythress said. "But one of our key emphasis was keeping Al Young at bay. There were some plays where he got by us and he kept them in the game and he did a really good job, but down the stretch we wanted to keep him in front."

Church didn't see it as a breakout game for Young and said it was only a matter of time before he came through.

"You know what you're getting with Al," Church said. "He's going to play fast and he's going to give you all of his heart. Some games he's going to play well and some games he's going to play bad, but we know wat we're getting with Al and he's going to compete."

Central opened up the fourth with a 6-0 run to extend its lead to 45-40, but Notre Dame answered with a 7-4 run to pull within two points at 49-47.

Poythress' missed 3s came after Central took a 52-50 lead with 1:01 left in regulation.

Reddin hit one of two free throws and on the following Notre Dame possession the Tigers took advantage of a loose ball under the Bulldogs' basket. Peyton Montgomerey jumped on it and called a time out with 45 seconds to play.

Out of the time out, Montgomery inbounded the ball to Statam, who was looking to take some time off the clock. However, the the Tigers' forward took too much time to cros the ball over half-court and was called for a 10-second violation with 33 seconds to go.

Poythress missed a 3 with 26 seconds left and on the next play Central senior Chase Hagerty drove to the basket and was fouled. Hagerty hit his first free throw, but his second one bounced off the rim and right to a Notre Dame player, who passed it up to Poythress for a chance to extend the game.

"We've been preaching all week to see what the process is and take it one game at a time," Church said. "Notre Dame is a good team. They're long, they're hard to guard, and I really felt that our kids are just competitive kids. And I think them just competing and them being hungry is leading them to some wins right now. When we can get in the gym, then we can go work on fundamental stuff, but right now I think it's all just being hungry."

Cape Central 10 13 16 14 -- 53

Notre Dame 10 19 11 10 -- 50

CAPE CENTRAL (53) -- Al Young 24, Andre Statam 7, Chase Hagerty 7, Peyton Montgomery 6, Jalen Reddin 5, Kway'chon Chisom 4. FG 19, FT 14-28, F 11 (3-pointers: Statam 1. Fouled out: none.)

NOTRE DAME (50) -- Quinn Poythress 20, Dean Crippen 12, Thomas Himmelberg 9, Trenton Schumer 5, Tanner Shively 4. FG 20, FT 4-4, F 19 (3-pointers: Himmelberg 3, Poythress 2, Schumer 1. Fouled out: Schumer.)