ND tops Bluejays for third time this season

~ Notre Dame had its easiest time yet with perennial power Charleston

Jacob Tolbert had his way around the basket and Notre Dame locked down defensively.

That was a lethal combination Tuesday night at Notre Dame Regional High School as the surging Bulldogs rolled past Charleston 69-61.

The Bulldogs notched their fifth straight win and improved to 12-4. Charleston fell to 5-11 with its fifth consecutive loss.

"They're a tough team, but every game we're getting better," Notre Dame senior forward Luciano Starling said.

Charleston proved plenty tough in the first two meetings between the teams, dropping down-to-the-wire decisions by a combined 11 points.

That wasn't the case this time as the eight-point margin was misleading.

Notre Dame led 37-24 at halftime, 54-34 after three quarters and 58-34 early in the final period. It was 69-51 in the late going before Charleston scored the final 10 points.

"The score doesn't justify how well we played," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said. "I thought we played really, really well, especially defensively.

"One team we haven't been able to press is Charleston, but our half-court defense made it really difficult for them to score. Our guards did a really good job."

While Notre Dame's defense was a collective effort, the Bulldogs' offense was sparked by Tolbert.

Tolbert, a 6-foot-7 junior, poured in a career-high 30 points. All of his 11 field goals came from within a few feet of the basket as the much smaller Bluejays had no answer.

"We couldn't do anything with the big guy inside," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said.

Tolbert, whose previous career-high was 29 points earlier this season against Berkeley, said his domination around the bucket wasn't as easy as it looked.

"We got the ball inside, but it's still pretty difficult," he said. "You have to learn to finish through contact."

Tolbert also made 8 of 10 free throws. And perhaps most impressively, twice he dribbled end-to-end through plenty of traffic for layups.

"He's hard to guard. He scores in so many different ways," Roberts said. "He can handle it and shoot it. He gets to the line about 10 times a game and he shoots about 80 percent from the line."

Tolbert scored 17 first-half points as Notre Dame overcame an early 14-8 deficit. His end-to-end layup late in the opening quarter put the Bulldogs ahead for good at 16-14.

Notre Dame continued to build on the lead until Charleston's late flurry that only served as window dressing.

Senior guard Liam Maher scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half. He had Notre Dame's only two 3-pointers, coming in the closing seconds of the first and second quarters.

Maher's shot from beyond the arc with less than 10 seconds left in the opening half put the Bulldogs on top 37-24.

Starling added 10 points, eight in the second half, and keyed Notre Dame's defense with several steals.

"I thought we did really good defensively," Starling said. "We just did what coach told us -- defense, rebound the ball and go inside to Jake."

Tolbert was impressed with the Bulldogs' defense, especially the harassing work of Starling and senior guards Maher and Nick Koeppel.

"Everyone played some really good defense," Tolbert said. "I was proud of the whole team."

Farmer also was proud of the Bluejays, who got 18 points from junior Devonte Johnson, 14 from senior Deonte Jones and 10 from sophomore Jerry Carter.

"We didn't give up," Farmer said. "Size has been killing us all year and we've played a very tough schedule, but we're getting better."

Roberts feels the same way about the Bulldogs and he'll soon get a chance to see just how much they have improved in recent weeks.

After facing Saxony Lutheran on Friday, Notre Dame pays a visit to powerful Scott County Central on Tuesday.

"I think everybody is looking forward to that game," Roberts said.

Charleston 14 10 10 27 -- 61

Notre Dame 19 18 17 15 -- 69

CHARLESTON (61) -- Jerry Carter 10, Gregory Tucker 8, Claude Armstrong 3, Deonte Jones 14, Demarques McKeller 2, Devonte Johnson 18, Fabrezio Wright 6. FG 24, FT 11-22, F 15. (3-pointers: Carter 2. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (69) -- Nick Koeppel 8, Liam Maher 12, Ke-Ke Kellum 2, Alex Carroll 2, Luciano Starling 10, Jacob Tolbert 30, Matt Helle 3, Dylan Essner 2. FG 26, FT 15-18, F 24. (3-pointers: Maher 2. Fouled out: none)

JV -- Notre Dame won 59-45.