New offense pays off for Notre Dame in win over Kennett

Notre Dame entered the week installing a new offense designed to turn the Bulldogs’ season around.

Friday’s game against Kennett was predictably rough, but the Bulldogs prevailed 67-57 at Notre Dame Regional High School.

“Anytime you switch things up in the middle of a season, it’s gonna be tough,” Notre Dame head coach Paul Unterreiner said.

A big proponent of the offense is getting the ball to Kolton Johnson, who scored a game-high 25 points on seven 3-point baskets and four free throws.

“KJ has been on fire recently,” Notre Dame senior Reece Callow said. “That’s obviously our No. 1 threat, scoring-wise. So just getting him the ball and if he’s not open, passing it to another open guy because they like to double.”

Johnson and Reece Callow combined to shoot six 3-pointers in the first half to take a 31-27 lead at halftime.

“We’re starting to shoot pretty well,” Unterreiner said. “ Now we got to start getting our inside game.”

“You would think it would be a priority, the No. 1 thing on our scouting list, they can shoot,” Kennett head coach Noll Billings said. “Our guys, I guess they don’t believe me. They shot the hell out of it.”

Billings’ frustration led to a halftime locker room meeting meant for the movies.

“We punched a few lockers, and threw some water bottles,” Billings said. “We did some hooting and yelling. We asked them to do what we asked them to do in the first place, which was guard, rotate, and stop reaching. I mean we play lazy basketball. Our kids will play lazy basketball if we allow it. Every time we start playing lazy basketball, we foul, we reach, we get sloppy.”

Kennett’s halftime adjustments kicked in later in the third quarter after Johnson opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers. D’Shun Wilson and Zy’Kerrion Taylor combined to score 13 of the Indians’ 15 points in the third quarter to close the gap and even take a late lead.

Wilson finished the game with a team-leading 16 points and Wilson scored 14 for the Indians.

Right up until Carson Essner ended the third quarter with a layup in transition to give Notre Dame a slim 43-42 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Essner opened the fourth quarter the same way he ended the third, with a layup. A string of inside shots by Greg Dennis gave the Bulldogs a 49-45 lead with 5:44 remaining in the game. Dennis finished with 17 points.

The Bulldogs outscored the Indians 24-15 in the final period, mainly on the free-throw line. The Bulldogs shot 10-of-14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and 15-of-22 overall.

In what was Notre Dame’s second home game of the season, Callow credited the atmosphere for energizing the team. After spending most of the season on the road and in tournaments, five of the Bulldogs' next seven regular season games will be at home.

The Bulldogs (6-9) welcome Whitfield on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Kennett travels to Twin Rivers on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Billings continues to aim toward turning the Indians (6-9) around.

“We get sloppy and lazy and our kids have got to lock it up or we won’t win a SEMO Conference game this year,” Billings said. “It’s what our reputation is and we’re going to fix it, come hell or high water.”