N.D. PUSHES TO ROAD WIN AND 6-2 MARK

PERRYVILLE -- Notre Dame High boys basketball coach Chris Janet expected nothing less than a close, hard-fought game when his team traveled to face St. Vincent Friday night.

And that's exactly what Janet and the Bulldogs got. In a contest that was much closer than the final score indicates, Notre Dame pulled away late for a 73-61 victory.

The Bulldogs improved to 6-2 entering next week's University High School Christmas Tournament while the Indians fell to 4-4.

"This St. Vincent bunch gives us fits when we come here," said Janet, mindful that the Indians stunned the visiting Bulldogs two years ago. Also, St. Vincent played Notre Dame close twice last year, once in Cape Girardeau and once in the district tournament.

"I expected to have some problems with them tonight," continued Janet. "They play so hard. Give them credit. I thought they played well. We beat a good team on their floor. It's always tough here."

St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy came away relatively pleased with his team's play, despite the loss. Valleroy lamented the fact that the Indians, despite battling back all night long, never could take a lead.

"I thought we played good for the most part. It was one of our better games of the year," Valleroy said. "We just never could get over the hump. We never could get a lead.

"But we played aggressively. It was a hard-fought game. Both teams played hard. This is a good, friendly rivalry."

All-stater Matt Rubel led Notre Dame offensively with 23 points, eight coming in the second quarter and 11 coming in the fourth period when he hit 11 of 12 free throws.

The Bulldogs got a huge lift off the bench from Jason Frank, who scored 18 points, including 14 in the third quarter. Dirk Dirnberger added 10 points.

"Jason is averaging two-and-a-half points a game and he gets 18 tonight," Janet said. "That's the story of this team. In our eight games, we've had five different leading scorers. Jason really gave us a big lift."

Said Frank, "It was nice to score like that. St. Vincent played us tough, but we just had to step up our game."

St. Vincent got 22 points from Jonathan Wengert and 16 from Jacen Bierk. They both hit three 3-point shots, including a halfcourt bomb by Wengert as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.

Notre Dame started quickly, scoring the game's first five points. That was the beginning of an uphill struggle for St. Vincent, which battled valiantly but never could go ahead.

The Bulldogs led 17-14 after one quarter and 31-27 at halftime. The Indians finally pulled into a 32-32 tie on a 3-pointer by Wengert early in the third period.

It was also tied at 34-34, but Notre Dame then ran off seven straight points to take command. Brent Garner hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer and Frank added four points as the Bulldogs went ahead 41-34.

Notre Dame pushed its lead to 50-36 late in the third period before Wengert's halfcourt shot made it 50-41.

Wengert's 3-pointer to start the final quarter got the Indians to within 50-44. They were still hanging around at 60-55 with 2:20 left when the Bulldogs used a technical foul to put the game away.

Wengert fouled Rubel with 2:02 left and was also whistled for a technical, his fifth foul, which sent him to the bench. Rubel hit four free throws and St. Vincent never recovered.

Notre Dame also won the JV game 66-53 to improve to 7-1.