'Dogs win 'ugly,' slide into semis

Rivalry games are always intense and exciting.

Pretty is, well ... optional.

When second-seeded Notre Dame and sixth-seeded Scott City met in the quarterfinals of the seMissourian Christmas Tournament Friday night at the Show Me Center, pretty was the sole property of the cheerleaders.

"Ugly," said Scott City 6-foot-8 center Tyler Ward, describing the 32 minutes of basketball that he just partook.

But for Notre Dame, those 32 minutes led to something beautiful -- the semifinals.

Shooting just 28 percent from the field for the night, Notre Dame handed Scott City (6-1) its first loss of the season, winning 52-50.

"That's our goal," Notre Dame coach Darrin Scott said. "You have to get to the semifinals before you can win it."

Notre Dame (5-2) will face Bell City (8-1) in tonight's 6 p.m. semifinal. Bell City, the defending Class 1 state champion, advanced with an 86-81 overtime victory over Jackson. The other semifinal will pair top-seeded Charleston (8-2) and fifth-seeded Oran (6-2) at 7:30. Charleston advanced with a 69-44 victory over ninth-seeded Kelly while Oran moved on with a 66-57 win over fourth-seeded Cape Girardeau Central.

"A lot of times, if you can play bad and win, I would rather have that than play well and lose," Scott said. "I was proud. At the end we could have lost our composure and we didn't. We kept a little cushion and we needed it there."

While Notre Dame struggled, it never trailed. The Bulldogs scored the first six points of the game and took a 17-10 lead into the second quarter, where things began to unravel for both teams.

The Bulldogs sank just three of 12 shots and committed seven turnovers in the second quarter, but Scott City was able to close the gap by just one point in the period.

The Rams struggled with their shooting and went into halftime trailing 29-23. Scott City, which came into the game shooting 50 percent from the field, shot 25 percent for the game. It marked the first time Scott City scored less than 70 points this season.

"We wanted to lose our first game in a better way, but it just didn't happen," Ward said. "The shots just weren't falling tonight."

"It was two team battling it out," Scott City coach Kerry Thompson said. "We wanted to see what our team was made of. Yeah, we were 6-0, but this was our biggest test so far."

Trailing 32-23 in the third quarter, Scott City went on an 11-2 spurt to tie the game 34-34 on a D.J. Walton 3-pointer with 1:48 left in the period. Junior forward Matt Wulfers responded on the Bulldogs' next trip down the floor, countering with a 3-pointer to put Notre Dame ahead for good, 37-34.

The ugly meter approached the red zone in the first half of the fourth quarter, where neither team scored from the field until under the 4:00 mark. Notre Dame could muster just a Travis Bruenderman free throw, but Scott City's offense, on its first 11 possessions of the period, consisted of just a pair of free throws by Jeremy Schlosser that closed the gap to 38-36 with 4:54 left.

Turnovers, missed free throws and missed shots were the norm -- until Notre Dame junior Jonathan Market filled the scoring vacuum.

Market scored all six of his points down the stretch, accounting for three of the Bulldogs' four field goals in the period.

"I got some good playing time today," Market said. "Coach asked me to do some stuff and I got out there and did what I needed to do."

Market, coming off the bench, was an unlikely hero for Notre Dame. He sat out his sophomore season and missed the first couple games of the season with an illness.

"We're really now just seeing what he can do," Scott said. "There are still some things in the defensive scheme he has to learn, but he does some natural things."

Market-type contributions have helped make Notre Dame become the second seed.

"That's been something we've done all year, and really the last couple of years," Scott said. "We really don't know who's going to step up for us. We really feel we've got seven or eight guys that at any point can contribute and get things done."

Market hit a short baseline shot for the quarter's first field goal at the 3:54 mark for a 40-36 lead. Walton, who finished with a team-high 16 points, countered with a pair of free throws to cut the gap to 40-38. Market deposited an offensive rebound on Notre Dame's next possession and Travis Siebert added a pair of free throws for a six-point lead. After Ward closed the gap to 44-40, Market retaliated with a 15-foot baseline jumper for a 46-40 lead with 2:04 left.

Schlosser cut the lead to 46-42 with 44 seconds left, but Notre Dame held on with a basket by Tyler Cuba and 4-for-4 free throw shooting by Wayne Essner.

"We did what we needed to do, but we really have to step up tomorrow with a lot more composure," Market said.

Travis Siebert led nine Bulldogs in the scoring column with 13 points. He was the only Notre Dame player to reach double figures.

"As a whole team we came through when they needed to," Cuba said. "I don't think any one person carried the team. The team stuck together. "We won, but we need to get better."

jbreer@semissourian.com

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