Notre Dame bests Charleston in overtime

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Thirty-two minutes of basketball weren't enough to decide a winner between the Notre Dame and Charleston boys basketball teams Tuesday in the first round of the SEMO Conference Tournament at the Sikeston Fieldhouse.

The players and fans deserved -- and got -- more.

Notre Dame's Quinn Poythress connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing with 20 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the fifth-seeded Bulldogs to a dramatic 70-69 victory over the fourth-seeded Bluejays.

"Quinn Poythress has been working his tail off and becoming a really good player, and that was a big, big shot," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said.

Poythress' heroics, though, were only the final in a long line of big plays both teams made down the stretch of the tense thriller.

The Bulldogs (1-0) led 18-9 after one period and seemed in control until the Bluejays (2-2) turned up the defensive pressure and clawed their way back into the contest. Charleston junior guard Delfinko Bogan scored 10 of his game-high 31 points in the second quarter as the Bluejays took a 28-23 lead with two minutes left before halftime.

Undaunted, Notre Dame closed the second quarter with an 8-0 run to lead 31-28 at the break.

A 10-2 run to open the second half put the Bulldogs up 41-30, but the Bluejays refused to fold. Trailing 48-38 entering the fourth quarter, Charleston kept within striking distance before an 8-2 run -- culminated by Bogan's three-point play at the 3 minute, 23 second mark -- pulled the Bluejays within 56-55.

Two free throws from Poythress, who led Notre Dame with 22 points, made it 60-57 Bulldogs with 28.7 seconds left. Charleston worked the ball around to Bogan, who swished an improbable step-back 3-pointer from the right wing with 3 seconds remaining to knot the score at 60-60.

Then things got crazy. The Bulldogs were unable to inbound the ball within the five-second time limit, and the turnover gave the Bluejays the ball underneath their own basket with a chance to win. They inbounded to the wing, then passed to the top of the key before finding Bogan at nearly the same spot on the court where he had hit the game-tying shot. This time, his 3-point try bounced off the rim and sent the game to overtime.

"We jumped on them right at the beginning, they came back," Roberts said. "We could've folded, but we stuck with it."

The teams battled back and forth in overtime until a steal and layup by Bogan put Charleston up 69-65. Poythress cut it to 69-67 with a pretty baseline drive and slam dunk with 1:05 left. After Bogan missed a pair of free throws, Poythress took a cross-court pass on the right wing, pump-faked as a defender flew by, then calmly drained his 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs on top to stay.

"I caught it, he ran at me and I pump-faked and he went for it," Poythress said of his game-winner. "I just put it up, and it went in."

Roberts also credited guards Jordan Williamson and Grant Ressel with handling the Bluejays' full-court pressure. Although the Bulldogs committed 19 turnovers, they were able to stay within their offensive game plan and utilize their height advantage on the offensive end.

"They brought that ball up the entire night, and that's pressure," Roberts said. "They worked really hard."

Roberts also noted the play of forward Dean Crippen, who scored 12 points in his first varsity action.

"This was his first game at the varsity level, and he was a man out there," Roberts said.

Notre Dame will face top seed Sikeston in the semifinal round at 7 p.m. Thursday.

"We played good in spurts, but we didn't knock down free throws," Charleston coach Danny Farmer said. "We missed 13 free throws. If we shot free throws better, we could've won it. And we didn't execute in critical times well."

Notre Dame 18 13 17 12 10 -- 70

Charleston 9 19 10 22 9 -- 69

NOTRE DAME (70) -- Chase Urhahn 3, Tanner Shively 6, Jordan Williamson 5, Quinn Poythress 22, Trenton Schumer 2, Grant Ressel 13, Jordan Barber 4, Thomas Himmelberg 1, Derek Hushof 2, Dean Crippen 12. FG: 24. FT: 18-23. F: 21. (3-pointers: Poythress 2, Urhahn 1, Ressel 1. Fouled out: Ressel)

CHARLESTON (69) -- Kelvondre Moore 5, Robert Bogan 14, Delfinko Bogan 31, Demontrail Clark 2, Shander Webster 8, Marquavion McCauley 6. FG: 21. FT: 24-39. F: 20. (3-pointers: D. Bogan 2, Moore 1. Fouled out: Timontrell Horton, Webster)