ND validates tourney title with its second win over Charleston

~ The Christmas Tournament champions edged the Bluejays 65-60.

The Notre Dame Bulldogs proved their upset victory over the Charleston Bluejays last week in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament was no fluke.

Notre Dame backed up its semifinal victory -- en route to the tournament championship --by defeating visiting Charleston 65-60 in a SEMO Conference game Tuesday.

Charleston (10-4, 2-1) looked intent on avenging that earlier loss by outscoring the Bulldogs 23-10 to start the game.

Senior guard Tavis Hamilton scored all 12 of his points and had three assists in that early spree. The Bluejays settled for a 25-18 first-quarter advantage.

Notre Dame (12-1, 3-1), behind Alex Ressel's eight second-quarter points, went on a 9-0 run to tie the score at 27-27. The Bulldogs went into halftime trailing by only one, 35-34.

"They gave us their best shot and we weathered it," said Notre Dame coach Paul Hale. "When we got it back to one point at halftime, I told the guys we had a chance. I didn't think they could continue to play that good for two more quarters."

The Bluejays' shooting cooled from the field in the third quarter, as Notre Dame rode its patented full-court pressure to their first lead at 40-38.

"A lot of that [cold shooting] is their pressure," said Charleston coach Danny Farmer. "I can't take anything away from Notre Dame. They put more pressure on us than any other team.

"If we had hit a few shots here and there in that third quarter," he added, "it probably could have been a different story."

Notre Dame outscored the Bluejays 20-10 in the third to go up 54-45.

Charleston pulled to within 58-56 with 3 minutes, 35 seconds in the game, but Notre Dame responded with four consecutive points.

Justin Clark's putback and Shawn Sherrell's jumper in the lane narrowed the gap to 62-60 with about a minute left.

As Notre Dame ran time off, Charleston gained possession on a alternate possession jump ball. Clark's baseline runner for the tie missed with 14.4 seconds to go.

With fouls to give, the Bluejays fouled twice. A third foul sent Notre Dame's Frankie Ellis to the line with 5.5 seconds to go. Ellis hit the front end of a one-and-one to open a 63-60 advantage.

Xavier Delph's two foul shots sealed the win.

Ressel led the Bulldogs with 19 points, while Ellis and Delph added 14 and 13 respectively.

Clark scored a team-high 19 points, and Jamarcus Williams had 18.