JACKSON PULLS AWAY TO BEAT NOTRE DAME

According to Notre Dame High coach Chris Janet, six minutes are all that separated his Bulldogs from the best basketball team in Southeast Missouri.

In those six minutes, which occurred in the third quarter of Friday's homecoming game at Notre Dame, the Jackson Indians outscored the Bulldogs 20-6 on the way to a 70-51 victory.

"In my opinion we played the best team in Southeast Missouri and in my opinion we gave them a very good basketball game," Janet said. "The final score was not indicative of how hard Jackson had to work to beat us."

Jackson, ranked third among large schools in Southeast Missouri, won its ninth consecutive game to improve to 14-3. Notre Dame lost its fourth game in a row, after an upset of Kelly two weeks ago, to fall to 5-9.

Jackson's Jeff Walter was the difference in the game. The 6-foot-5 senior scored a game-high 25 points, 11 coming in the fourth quarter, and grabbed 12 rebounds.

"Jeff's an awful strong kid and we let him push us around inside," Janet said. "He got so many points on offensive putbacks. Rebounding really killed us and we knew coming in we couldn't afford that."

Said Jackson coach Steve Burk: "Jeff had an outstanding basketball game. He's a very, very good basketball player."

Walter ignited the Indians' big third quarter with a monstrous slam dunk that put Jackson ahead 37-28 at the 5:15 mark. That basket ended a 7-0 scoring run for the Indians after Notre Dame had closed the margin to 30-28. Jackson led 30-25 at halftime.

"We got it within two (points) then we threw the ball away a couple times and they went down and scored," said Janet. "You could almost see all the air exhausting from us."

Walter's slam was like a needle to a balloon for the Bulldogs.

"It got us pumped up and juiced; we just started playing a whole lot better," Walter said. "Our defense picked up and that helped everything."

Defense was the key to Burk. After Notre Dame started the second half with two quick baskets, the Jackson coach called a timeout and talked defense with his players.

"We talked about picking it up in the defensive end and I thought we did," said Burk. "We got some steals and that helped to get our offense kick-started."

Jackson forced eight turnovers in the quarter and led 50-34 entering the fourth quarter. Notre Dame never got within 10 points the rest of the way.

"There was a six-minute span where we didn't play well and we got our heads down," Janet said. "But this was the best effort we've had in a while for four quarters."

It certainly could have been worse considering Jackson jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the game. The quick lead helped defuse the packed, and usually rowdy, Notre Dame crowd.

"We just came out and took it to them," said Walter. "We figured that's what we had to do to beat them so we just came out and got them early."

"This is a tough place to play, but our kids get up to play here too," said Burk. "We recognized this would be a real challenge and we came out ready to play and met the challenge."

After Notre Dame's Zach Miller started the game with the first basket, Jackson never trailed again. The Indians controlled the boards and used several putbacks to shoot a sizzling 54 percent (26 of 48) from the floor. Not counting 3-pointers, Jackson shot 66 percent (25 of 38).

Notre Dame shot 44 percent (22 of 50) and got 12 points from both Miller and Jason Rubel. The Bulldogs shot only six free throws, making three.

Justin Keen added 15 points for Jackson, which made 17 of 25 free throws.

In the junior varsity game, Notre Dame held off Jackson in overtime 56-51. Adam Obermiller scored 16 points for the Bulldogs. For Jackson, Tory Meyr scored 21 points and John Oehl added 18.