Final four notebook: Hillcrest senior says Notre Dame press was no problem

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Hillcrest senior guard Brady Petry thought he held the key to his team defeating Notre Dame in a Class 4 state semifinal Thursday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.

"I knew I could just beat their press," Petry said. "They were pressuring so hard, it's easy to get around them, so I was like, 'If I beat their press, we will win this game because we're going to have less turnovers.'"

Petry, who turned the ball over eight times, did a decent job at maneuvering through the Bulldogs full-court pressure, and even when the Hornets did turn the ball over, Notre Dame rarely capitalized.

Hillcrest turned the ball over 19 times in its 60-57 defeat of Notre Dame, but the Bulldogs scored just 17 points off turnovers, and 11 of those points were in the fourth quarter when they were scrambling to overcome a double-digit deficit.

"He was a one-man press break. That's tough to beat, especially at the high school level," Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said of Petry. "That just happens. He's been playing at an unbelievable level, and we knew that coming in. He is putting a team on his back, and now other guys are stepping up. Their role players are stepping up.

"It's an unbelievable thing, and it happens. I compare it to Bryce Willen's run. When they got Bryce back, our Notre Dame team made an unbelievable run in state [in 2005]. Now they've got him playing at an unbelievable level, and he's a phenomenal player. That's just the way the cookie crumbles."

Petry finished with 21 points on 5-of-15 shooting to lead Hillcrest into the state championship game. He was 10 of 16 from the line and had 13 rebounds, along with four assists and three steals.

Many times Notre Dame would force a turnover only for the ball to end up right back in the Hornets' possession as the Bulldogs committed 17 turnovers.

"I thought our press was OK. I don't think that's what cost us the game," Unterreiner said. "If we make shots, we win the game. We didn't make shots, and that's just the way it goes. Like I said, I'm not going to go into any of that because I thought they played an outstanding game. They're well coached. Their players played an outstanding game, and my boys fought."

Pressure on Poythress

Notre Dame's Quinn Poythress sails up for a shot in the third quarter of the Bulldogs Class 4 semifinal against the Hillcrest Hornets, Thursday, March 19, 2015, in Columbia, Missouri. Notre Dame lost 60-57. (Laura Simon)

Hillcrest coach Tomas Brock knew exactly who he'd have guard Notre Dame's leading scorer, Quinn Poythress, when the two teams met up in their state semifinal: 6-foot freshman guard Tim Washington.

Just as Brock expected, Washington stepped up and hounded the 6-foot-7 senior forward.

Poythress finished with 13 points to lead the Bulldogs, which was several points below his average of 20.5. He had five points and attempted just four shots in the first half.

"They really knew how to guard me or any of us inside," said Poythress, who shot 5 of 13 from the field. "They knew when to double and when not to, and they rebounded the heck out of the ball, it felt like. Just the physicality was a big factor in that."

Washington, one of just six Hillcrest players that saw action Thursday, attempted just two shots and finished with two points.

"He's such a versatile defender," Brock said. "He guarded 6-9 [Waynesville High School forward and Indiana signee] Juwan Morgan, and then against Rolla, he guarded their little 5-10 guard that was all-conference. And then today he guards a 6-7 shooter. He's very versatile, and we don't usually tell him a whole lot other than, 'This is their best player' and 'Guard him.' He just gets it done."

Up next

Ten of the 13 Notre Dame boys basketball players will play their final games in a Bulldogs uniform Friday, and that's all the motivation they need to bounce back from their semifinal loss that snapped an 11-game winning streak and dropped them to 26-5 on the season.

"The majority of our team is seniors, and the way we're looking at is it's our last game," Poythress said. "Lay it out there with no regrets and at the end of the day just know you gave it everything you could."

Notre Dame will face Bolivar at 11 a.m. Friday at Mizzou Arena in the Class 4 third-place game.

The Liberators (26-5) lost 73-49 in a semifinal against St. Charles on Thursday. The loss snapped a 20-game winning streak for Bolivar.

Bolivar is led by 6-foot-5 sophomore center Brandon Emmert with 18.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Three other players average doublefigures -- junior guard Bryce Krueger with 15.3, sophomore guard Conley Garrison with 10.9 and junior guard Johnny Scott with 10.4.