ND FALLS SHORT OF FINAL IN SIKESTON TOURNEY

SIKESTON -- The composure and clutch shooting that boosted Notre Dame's basketball team in its first three games disappeared at some point in the third quarter Tuesday night.

And Kennett's Anton McKinney and Prentiss Brown were the magicians responsible.

McKinney and Brown combined for 39 of Kennett's 71 points as No. 8 Notre Dame fell to the fifth seed 71-56 in a semifinal game in the Sikeston Invitational Tournament.

To put it simply, this wasn't the same Notre Dame team that split back-to-back games with Sikeston and knocked off Cape Central in the season opener.

"I think these kids celebrated to the point where they thought the tournament was over last night (after Notre Dame's 54-52 win over top-seeded Sikeston)," said first-year Notre Dame coach Chris Neff. "You knock the one seed off and you think you're the one seed. It's a false sense of security."

Notre Dame, which trailed just 35-32 at halftime, shot just 39 percent from the field in the second half (nine of 23) and made just three of its 15 3-pointers.

Kennett outscored the Bulldogs (2-2) 23-13 in the third quarter. In that 8-minute span, Kennett scored on 12 of its 14 possessions, making 11 of its 17 shots and committing no turnovers.

Notre Dame couldn't stop the combination of McKinney and Brown.

McKinney, a 6-foot-1 guard, created shots of his own and Brown scored much of his on offensive putbacks and at the free-throw line.

Notre Dame meanwhile, got 15 points from Josh Eftink on five 3-pointers. Eftink, the fourth different leading scorer in four Notre Dame games, was one of the few with a hot hand for the Bulldogs.

Notre Dame made nine of 27 threes for the game.

The Bulldogs fell behind early they trailed by as many as 10 with 1:08 left in the first quarter but went on a 16-4 run to take a 26-24 lead with 4:38 left in the second quarter.

But it was all McKinney and Brown in the third. McKinny scored eight points and Brown scored nine, combining for 17 of the team's 22 third-quarter points.

"They destroyed us on the boards," Neff said. "They've got a lot of team strength and are very strong. They got some long rebounds and got some boards that we didn't go after."

Notre Dame will play the winner of No. 6 New Madrid and No. 2 Blytheville.

Charleston 64, New Madrid 58

No. 3 seed Charleston owned an 18-point lead in the first half but let it slip away as another upset occurred when New Madrid handed the Blue Jays a 64-58 loss.

Howard Biles scored 15 to lead Charleston.