Christmas Tournament: Notre Dame survives Oran rally in fifth-place game

With 4 seconds on the clock in the fifth-place game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, Oran's Seth Ressel stepped to the free throw line for a 1-and-1 and his team trailing by two.

Ressel had made 11 of 12 free throws in the game up to that point but missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Notre Dame's Jordan Barber snagged the rebound and hit a free throw on the other end to secure a 71-68 victory and the tournament's fifth-place trophy for the Bulldogs.

"I felt it was going to be a little short, but I didn't think it was going to be that short," Ressel said of his miss. "At first I thought it was going to bounce in, and then it didn't. I was just kind of mad at myself that I'd made three before, and then I can't even make one. I knew we still had a chance, and we didn't ever give up."

Oran trailed by 11 with 6 minutes, 29 seconds left in the game, but 12 points from Ressel down the stretch made it a 69-68 game with 7 seconds remaining.

"He was very gritty," Oran coach Joe Shoemaker said. "He took care of the basketball. He did a better job in the second half trying to take care of the basketball and put us where we needed to be. He attacked the rim. ... He got that foul and those three free throws. You know, he played his butt off -- I can't fault him."

Notre Dame's Quinn Poythress, who finished with 15 points, made a free throw 5.6 seconds remaining. He missed his second attempt and inexplicably reached to foul Ressel to send him to the line with a chance to tie the game. It was the fifth foul for Poythress, who coach Kevin Roberts has called Notre Dame's best player.

"That's my fault," Roberts said. "I put it in his head that we were going to foul when we made it. That's a high school kid making a mistake. That's my fault. That's definitely on me, not on him."

Oran senior Seth Ressel drives past Notre Dame senior Jordan Williamson during the Eagles' 71-68 loss to the Bulldogs in the fifth place game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament Monday, Dec. 30, at the Show Me Center. (Adam Vogler)

The Bulldogs held on for the victory, but put Oran at the free-throw line five times in the last six minutes of the game, including when they fouled Ressel on a 3-point attempt with 7 seconds left.

"We were kind of beating ourselves there," Roberts said. "We didn't force them to beat us. We were kind of giving them points at the free-throw line while the clock was stopped. You know, we're a lot more intelligent than that, but I thought overall we played a pretty good game."

Notre Dame used a pair of 7-0 runs after halftime and at the start of the fourth quarter to extend the lead, which Roberts attributed to his team's depth and quick tempo. Roberts used an 11-player rotation and nine players scored. Barber led Notre Dame with 18 points.

"You could tell that they were a little sluggish at times," Roberts said. "But you've got to give them credit because they battled back every time that we kind of took a nine to 11-point lead -- they kind of fought their way back in it."

The Eagles took an 11-4 lead in the first quarter before Notre Dame scored seven unanswered to tie it. Oran held a one-point lead before turning the ball over five times in the final two minutes of the first quarter.

"We were going too fast, pushing the tempo," Ressel said. "We do really well in transition. That's pretty much our offensive game, and we just really wanted to push and get ahead and that caused us to have turnovers and give up easy baskets."

Shoemaker was pleased his team didn't throw in the towel down the stretch, but said there are improvements to be made.

"Our key is to be playing our best at February," Shoemaker said. "We're not doing that yet. I think we're improving and heading in the right direction, but until we learn to defend and rebound and take care of the ball for 32 minutes, you're not going to win big games."

Ressel and junior Hunter Schlosser led Oran with 24 and 25 points, respectively.

Oran 16 19 17 16 -- 68

Notre Dame 21 13 22 15 -- 71

ORAN (68) -- Thomas Trankler 2, Jacob Priggel 3, Chance Tenkhoff 14, Seth Ressel 24, Hunter Schlosser 25. FG 24, FT 18-22, F 17. (3-pointers: Priggel 1, Tenkhoff 3, Ressel 1, Schlosser 3. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (71) -- Chase Urhahn 5, Hunter Eftink 4, Jordan Williamson 3, Quinn Poythress 15, Trenton Schumer 2, Grant Ressel 9, Jordan Barber 18, Derek Hulshof 6, Dean Crippen 9. FG 28, FT 10-20, F 18. (3-pointers: Urhahn 1, Poythress 2, Ressel 1. Fouled out: Poythress)