KELLY REMAINS PERFECT WITH WIN OVER ND

After watching bad quarters ruin otherwise solid games more than once this season, Notre Dame coach Chris Janet said before the University High School Christmas Tournament that his seventh-seeded Bulldogs must play four good quarters to upset favored teams.

Against second-seeded Kelly, it wasn't just a quarter which upset Janet -- it was the whole first half.

Notre Dame trailed by 15 at halftime, and Kelly withstood a late charge by the Bulldogs and won a quarterfinal game Saturday night 80-68 at the Show Me Center.

Kelly, still undefeated at 9-0, ill play No. 6 Cape Central at 8:30 p.m. Monday in a semifinal game. Notre Dame will face Jackson at 5:30 p.m. Monday in consolation play.

Notre Dame shot just 4 of 13 from the field in the opening period and turned the ball over seven times as Kelly took a 16-9 first-quarter lead.

The Hawks' Jim Hulshof, a 6-foot-1 junior, scored six of his game-high 20 points in the first quarter and Denver Stuckey, a 6-foot senior, scored six of his 19 points.

"Denver Stuckey had a great overall game; a great floor game," said Kelly coach Kent Mangels. "He shot the ball well."

Notre Dame hit just four shots from the field again in the second quarter. With the score 24-17, Kelly closed the period with an 8-0 run in the last 1 minute 2 seconds as the Bulldogs fell apart before halftime.

"That was a killer right there," said Janet. "We didn't shoot the ball well; we didn't move offensively. I thought in the first half we played very poorly. I didn't even think we played that hard."

After both teams scored 20 points in the third quarter, nine by Kelly's Hulshof, Notre Dame (3-4) finally made a run in the fourth.

After trailing by 20 points, 59-39, early in the period, Notre Dame forced five turnovers with its press and scored 17 of the next 23 points. The Bulldogs trailed by nine, 65-56, with 4 minutes 15 seconds remaining.

Notre Dame's Zach Miller, a 6-foot junior, scored nine of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter and Jason Rubel scored nine of his 14 points. Miller also delivered eight assists in the game.

But Kelly, which made 27 of 41 free throws for the game, made its first 10 free throws in the fourth and 15 of 26 in the quarter to prevent Notre Dame from cutting the deficit under nine points.

"Thank God we shot the free throws as well as we did," said Mangels. "We had (Notre Dame) down by quite a bit, and we just lost our intensity. You can't let a team like Notre Dame just hang around and hang around. We didn't play as well as we need to play to win the championship.

"But we made enough good plays to make up for our mistakes."

Kelly outrebounded the taller Bulldogs 32-21.