ILLERS POWERS CAPE CENTRAL TO VICTORY OVER NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame found out that it's difficult to match up with a 6-foot-3 forward who can drain threes, post up, handle the ball, rebound, pass and dunk.

Kelly Illers did all of the above Tuesday night in leading Cape Central to a 66-55 home win over the Tigers' cross-town rival Notre Dame.

The victory was Cape Central's second win in three tries against Notre Dame (4-9) this season.

Illers, a powerful, poker-faced player, scored a game-high 19 points, 11 of which came in the first quarter. He nailed three 3-pointers, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out two assists and threw down a dunk.

"That's a definite matchup problem," Notre Dame coach Chris Janet said. "I think it's a matchup problem for a lot of teams. Kelly is a good enough ball handler and shooter that you've got to guard him on the perimeter. And then he can break you down. That's why we went to more zone."

"Kelly is a very good basketball player, there's no question about that," Cape Central coach Brett Reutzel said. "He can really shine."

While Illers provided the Tigers with a comfortable cushion early and hit a couple of big shots down the stretch, junior Ross Conner quietly and consistently scored 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

"When Illers and Ross are both in double figures, I think our chances are good," Reutzel said.

Notre Dame's Zach Miller busted out for a 17-point performance, while senior center Anthony Ressel had 12 for the Bulldogs.

The Tigers (7-8), after committing turnovers on their first three possessions, broke lose to a 19-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Illers hit two 3-pointers in the first eight minutes and more than half of his points came during that span.

"I was pumped up for Notre Dame," Illers said. "I just wanted to beat them."

"We got off to a really slow start," Janet said. "Against a good basketball team, you hate to come into their gym and start off slow. You have to give credit to our kids. They didn't quit and didn't hang their heads and let them roll over us."

Early in the second quarter, the Tigers had built a comfortable 25-10 lead, but watched it crumble to 32-27 at halftime.

Notre Dame made a run in the third, cutting the deficit to three points on four different occasions, the last of which was 40-37 with 3:12 remaining in the period.

The Bulldogs never got closer than that.

Cape Central led 48-39 going into the fourth quarter. The Tigers owned a double-digit lead during most of the final period.

"I thought we played pretty good," Reutzel said. "I thought we had our moments offensively and defensively. I though we did some nice things as far as reading what they were doing and reacting to it."