KELLY NETS WIN OVER BULLDOGS

BENTON -- Notre Dame High's boys basketball team played its first game without leading scorer and rebounder Dirk Dirnberger Friday night.

Considering that Kelly has been playing extremely well, it didn't figure to be a good combination for the Bulldogs.

And things went pretty much according to form as the Hawks prevailed 75-64 on their home court. Kelly is now 7-5 while Notre Dame fell to 5-5.

"It's a big win for us," said Kelly coach Kent Mangels. "We played pretty well tonight. We've been getting a little better on defense and I think that was a key for us. And offensively we're starting to click."

Dirnberger, Notre Dame's 6-foot-5 senior, averages 18 points and 10 rebounds per game. He suffered a severely sprained ankle Tuesday against St. Vincent and figures to miss at least three weeks.

"It's hard to replace 18 points and 10 rebounds," said Notre Dame coach Chris Janet. "Dirk gives us such size and experience in there.

"We didn't play bad for the team we had there. We had a lot of inexperience on the floor. I thought we did some good things, and then we also made some inexperienced mistakes. Kelly is playing well now. They've got a nice team."

Justin Vetter led a balanced Kelly attack with 16 points. Also in double figures were Jim Hulshof with 14, Nathan Dirnberger with 10 and Jeff McNiell with 10.

"Justin Vetter really stepped up for us tonight," Mangels said.

Notre Dame got 23 points from Nathan McGuire and 17 from Chris Canfield.

The Hawks led 19-17 after one quarter and 36-29 at halftime.