Charleston boys basketball team fends off Notre Dame to capture title

Notre Dame got the first basket of Friday's Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament championship game.

The rest of the night pretty much belonged to Charleston, which returned to the tournament winner's circle for the first time in nearly a decade.

Top-seeded Charleston used another stout defensive effort and another huge offensive performance from junior guard Ryan Parham to ease past the second-seeded Bulldogs 58-50.

"It feels good. This was one of our set goals," Parham said. "We knew what we had to do and we did it."

A big Show Me Center crowd saw the Bluejays capture their tournament-record 16th title but first since 2002, which also was the last time they appeared in the final.

"We've come up here with some more talented teams and couldn't win it," said Charleston coach Danny Farmer, who posted his 300th victory in his 15th season with the Bluejays. "It's really great."

Friday's contest followed the pattern of the Dec. 20 meeting between the teams that saw visiting Charleston build a 17-point lead and hold off several Notre Dame rallies before pulling away to win 70-59.

This time the Bluejays (11-1) went up 30-22 at halftime and 45-31 after three quarters before again fending off the Bulldogs (6-5).

"I was very pleased with our effort. We could have folded several times, but we kept battling back," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said. "We did everything we could to stay in the game. They were just the better team tonight."

That's partly because Parham was the best player on the floor despite the presence of the teams' two standouts -- Charleston senior guard Greg Tucker and Notre Dame senior guard Nathan Meystedt.

Parham, who normally is content to run the Bluejays' offense, came up huge offensively for the second straight night.

Parham scored a game-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers. He did not miss a shot from beyond the arc.

"It was real big for him to get going," Tucker said. "It loosened up the defense and opened it up for everybody else."

Parham also led the Bluejays with 16 points and hit three 3-pointers during Thursday's semifinal win over Central.

"Ryan had another great game. He stepped up when we needed him to," Farmer said.

Parham scored 12 points in the first half, all coming on four 3-pointers. His final trey, which came with less than a minute left in the third quarter, put Charleston up 44-31 for its biggest lead to that point.

"I step up when I need to. Teams don't expect it from me," said Parham, an all-tournament selection who scored just seven points in Charleston's first two tourney games. "They were fading off on me. I knew I had to hit some big shots. I had confidence."

Tucker, also an all-tournament selection who has signed with Division I Northern Colorado, added 14 points despite missing most of the fourth quarter with foul trouble.

Tucker ended up fouling out with 1 minute, 33 seconds left.

"It was tough," Tucker said about missing the final moments of the title clincher. "But it feels good. Winning the [SEMO] conference tournament and this tournament were big goals."

While Parham and Tucker did much of the scoring, Charleston's swarming defense made life tough on the Bulldogs.

"It's all about defense with Charleston," Parham said. "We play defense every day in practice."

Meystedt, who also was named to the all-tournament squad, scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the second half to try to rally the Bulldogs.

Notre Dame made things somewhat interesting when the Bluejays hit just 3 of 11 free throws during one fourth-quarter stretch.

But the Bulldogs, who were down by 16 points early in the final period, never could take advantage.

The Bulldogs got no closer than seven points until Meystedt's 3-pointer made it 56-50 with just 8 seconds left.

Parham's two free throws with 6 seconds remaining finished the victory.

"Notre Dame doesn't quit when they're down," Parham said. "We didn't expect it. They're a good team."

Roberts was pleased with the Bulldogs' tournament showing despite the loss in the title game.

Notre Dame went 3-1, including Thursday's 76-39 semifinal rout of three-time defending champion Scott County Central that was arguably the most impressive performance of the week.

"It's not bad at all," Roberts said about second place. "To end 3-1 and get in the championship game, after playing so well against Scott County Central in the semifinals, I can't ask for more."

Notre Dame 6 16 9 19 -- 50

Charleston 12 18 15 13 -- 58

NOTRE DAME (50) -- Demonte Farmer 4, Jonathan Lynch 7, Jordan Reddin 4, Nathan Meystedt 17, Justin Landewee 2, Patrick Williamson 2, Joe Siebert 8, Cody Heisserer 2, Ryan Hale 4. FG 18, FT 11-13, F 23. (3-pointer: Lynch 1, Meystedt 2. Fouled out: Meystedt)

CHARLESTON (58) -- Aaron Cassell 7, Ryan Parham 19, Michael Hull 3, Trey Watkins 6, Greg Tucker 14, Krushon Scott 9. FG 18, FT 14-26, F 15. (3-pointer: Cassell 1, Parham 5, Hull 1, Tucker 1. Fouled out: Tucker)