Central boys basketball team tops ND in possible district preview

~ The Tigers won 64-59, but the teams could meet again next Tuesday

One coach called it a "learning experience," perfect for trying out tactics that most often go unused. The other said it "didn't mean a whole lot."

It's not the usual response following a matchup between the Notre Dame and Central boys basketball teams at the Show Me Center, but Monday night's contest wasn't played in the usual conditions.

Central won 64-59 by holding off Notre Dame's late comeback attempt, but a likely rematch between the two teams looms in the semifinal round of next week's Class 4 District 1 tournament at Central.

The late district preview originally had been scheduled for Feb. 4 but was postponed due to icy road conditions.

"It's a learning experience tonight because most likely we will see them next Tuesday, so we tried a whole bunch of different things to see what would work," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said. "We kind of did some unusual things, and we learned a lot. ... Our plan was to run a couple different things at them and see how they would react to it just so we can be prepared next week."

Andre Statam sealed the Tigers' victory with a layup with 18.3 seconds to go. He was fouled on the play and made the free throw to seal what turned out to be the final score.

"It was meant for Al [Young] to be a little decoy, and then I just took off to get the ball," said Statam of the set play that Central coach Drew Church devised during a timeout.

"I felt good about it because it was kind of the dagger at the end of the game," Statam said.

Young led the Tigers with 24 points, while Statam finished with 15 points and was a perfect 9 of 9 from the free-throw line. The Tigers made 23 of their 33 free throws in the contest.

"The way they play, they're very active with their hands," Church said. "They want to pressure the basketball. We really focused on trying to attack that pressure and make the ref call fouls or get past them and be able to make plays. When you're playing Notre Dame, they're a physical team, and if you kind of play on your heels you're not going to get those calls, but if you're aggressive sometimes you do."

Notre Dame leading scorer Quinn Poythress had a team-high 18 points despite missing a significant portion of the first half with foul trouble. The Bulldogs were called for 25 fouls in the game, but several of those were committed by design late in the contest.

Central, which led by as many as 13 points in the first half, led 53-44 with 2 minutes, 58 seconds to go when Notre Dame took a timeout. Roberts decided to enact a strategy he said he hasn't used all season.

"With about two and a half minutes to go we decided that we were going to make them make some free throws because they had two guards who weren't shooting the ball too well from the free-throw line," Roberts said. "And they missed a couple, and we got right back in the game there, but you've got to give them credit because they did make them when it counted."

The Tigers made 9 of 13 free throws after Roberts' timeout, but the few misses combined with four 3-point baskets in a two-minute span helped Notre Dame cut the lead to 59-57 with 1:07 to go.

"The difference is a game like this to us two months ago, we don't win this game," Church said. "But this team has really developed, and playing so many tough games and playing such a tough schedule and competition has really helped us toward this stretch now to kind of focus and not break down toward the end of a game when things go wrong, and we were able to pull this one out."

Central, which was seeded third in the district tournament, will face Perryville in the opening round at 4 p.m. Saturday. Notre Dame, which received the No. 2 seed when voting took place Saturday, awaits the winner in next Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal.

"Kevin and I have played each other so many times in the last six, seven years that we pretty much know what each other's going to do," Church said. "It was good for our boys. We were a little hesitant on offense at times and kind of played too far from the basket, and I think seeing this [will help] -- and this game didn't mean a whole lot to be honest for both teams. It's a conference game and it's Notre Dame, but districts start in like four days. ... It's so late that we've had three games in the last four days, and I think Kevin has like three or four this week. So it was a good game for us to see what they're going to do and react to it, and we'll be ready if we get a chance to see them again."

Notre Dame 9 16 8 26 -- 59

Central 16 15 11 22 -- 64

NOTRE DAME (59) -- Brendan Boswell 3, Tanner Shively 2, Quinn Poythress 18, Trenton Schumer 4, Grant Ressel 10, Thomas Himmelberg 14, Dean Crippen 8. FG 21, FT 9-12, F 25. (3-pointers: Boswell 1, Poythress 2, Ressel 1, Himmelberg 4. Fouled out: none)

CENTRAL (64) -- Al Young 24, Jalen Reddin 3, Jamal Cox 12, Chase Haggerty 4, Mikey Jones 6, Andre Statam 15. FG 20, FT 23-33, F 15. (3-pointers: Young 1. Fouled out: none)