Notre Dame boys basketball team defeats Westminster, advances to Class 4 final four

FARMINGTON, Mo -- Notre Dame boys basketball coach Paul Unterreiner paused from receiving hugs and congratulations from a crowd of Bulldogs fans following his team's Class 4 state quarterfinal at the Farmington Civic Center on Saturday and still couldn't quite believe what he'd just witnessed.

The Bulldogs defeated Westminster Christian Academy 62-44 to finalize their trip to the final four in Unterreiner's first year at the helm.

It also marked the first time since 2008, when Notre Dame claimed the Class 4 state championship, that the Bulldogs (26-4) have advanced to the state semifinals.

"It almost feels like a dream, honest to God, but when I hugged my wife after the game I was just filled with emotion," Unterreiner said. "Essentially what did I do to deserve this group of guys that I have this year? And that starts from one all the way down to 17 -- managers, coaches, everybody. Just truly a special group.

Notre Dame's Quinn Poythress celebrates his team's 62-44 victory over Westminster Christian Academy in a Class 4 quarterfinal Saturday, March 14, 2015 in Farmington, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"Am I the best basketball coach in the world? Do I have the most basketball knowledge? Absolutely not. These guys from Day 1 bought in to being a family, and I know a little something about being a family. I've got an unbelievable family, and it's worked."

The Bulldogs have prided themselves on having different pieces of their "family" step up each game, and Saturday night's victory was no different.

All but one of the 11 players who stepped on the court scored for Notre Dame, and Unterreiner even pointed out the importance of the attitudes of the players that are destined to remain on the bench for the Bulldogs.

"I've got two guys with torn ACLs on my bench that should've started tonight. They should've started every game this year," Unterreiner said. "I haven't seen Derek Hulshof mope about anything. Grant Ressel tears his ACL in the district championship game, and he's worked his tail off to get to where he is at this point, and I haven't seen him mope about it yet. It's just truly, 'Whoever's going to take my place, let's go.' They're just truly special people, and I don't know what I did to deserve to get them. But I love each and every single one of them."

The Bulldogs only trailed once in the contest -- at 1-0 47 seconds into the game. They led the remainder of the way after taking a 3-1 lead on a basket by senior Quinn Poythress with 5:46 left in the first quarter.

Notre Dame's Tanner Shively shoots over Westminster Christian Academy's Brendan Bognar during the second quarter of a Class 4 quarterfinal Saturday, March 14, 2015 in Farmington, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

Notre Dame led 13-7 at the end of the first and led by as many as nine in the half after junior guard Ross Essner drained a 3 to start the second quarter. Meanwhile, Poythress was on the bench with his second foul from the 7:08 mark.

The Wildcats cut it to 25-23 with 56 seconds remaining in the half, when sophomore guard Steven Webb scored in transition off a Notre Dame turnover.

Bulldogs senior Tanner Shively missed a pair of free throws with 36 seconds to go in the half, but sophomore Blake Bauwens secured the rebound, worked the clock and kicked it to senior Thomas Himmelberg in the corner for a 3-pointer that gave Notre Dame a 28-23 edge at the break.

"I thought that shot by Thomas at the end of the second quarter was huge," Unterreiner said. "That's a play we usually run with Quinn, and Quinn wasn't in the game and our guys picked it up and ran it to perfection."

Unterreiner emphasized setting the tone in the early goings of the second half, something that the Bulldogs have been successful with this season.

"All season the third quarter has pretty much been our quarter," Shively said. "We've dominated the third quarter almost every game."

That continued on Saturday when the Bulldogs scored the first six points of the half as part of a 15-2 run to widen the gap to 15 at 42-27 with 1:34 to go in the third.

Shively accounted for seven of the first nine Notre Dame points of the quarter. He finished with a game-high 17 points.

Notre Dame's Dean Crippen drives and shoots over Westminster Christian Academy's Steven Webb during the fourth quarter of a Class 4 quarterfinal Saturday, March 14, 2015 in Farmington, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"I looked at Tanner Shively at halftime and said, 'You are a much better player than you're letting yourself be,'" Unterreiner said. "I said, 'You have to be the aggressor.' He started getting passive, and I said, 'Allow yourself to be good and take shots, and if you miss someone else will score.' For some reason he decided to let it happen the second half, and he was outstanding for us."

Westminster scored the final six points over the last 1:13 of the third, including a free throw with 1.4 seconds left, to cut it to 42-33 heading to the final eight minutes.

Notre Dame turned the ball over on its first two possessions of the fourth quarter, and Westminster sophomore Clifford Degroot cut the deficit to six with a 3-pointer with 6:25 left.

The Bulldogs extended it back to 10 before a three-point play by Webb made it 48-41 with 3 minutes to go, but it was as close as the game got.

Notre Dame made just one field goal the remainder of the game but connected on 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch.

"We had one group in right there towards the end and coach said, 'They could foul any of you from 1 to 5 and you guys would knock down your free throws,'" Shively said of the team's confidence. "From the point guard to the 5, anybody could make a shot if we needed one. That's really critical and helps everybody out. That's how we play -- team ball."

Notre Dame will face Hillcrest (18-12) in a state semifinal at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri.

"We've been working for this for a very long time and it feels good to get back to state, but we still have a lot of stuff that we have to work on, and we don't have the satisfaction I think that we can have," Poythress said. "We're just ready."

Notre Dame 13 15 14 20 -- 62

Westminster 7 16 10 11 -- 44

NOTRE DAME (62) -- Tanner Shively 17, Quinn Poythress 8, Thomas Himmelberg 7, Blake Bauwens 6, Dean Crippen 6, Trenton Schumer 4, Nick Bradshaw 4, Brendan Boswell 3, Ross Essner 3, Carson Ketcher 2. FG 16, FT 24-31, F 17. (3-pointers: Himmelberg 2, Boswell 1, Essner 1. Fouled out: none.)

WESTMINSTER (44) -- Steven Webb 13, Aaron Cook Jr. 9, Clifford Degroot 6, Brendan Bognar 5, Matthew Weber 4, Jordan Hawkins 3, Dyllan Conway 2, Jordan Harvey 2. FG 14, FT 10-19, F 16. (3-pointers: Degroot 2, Cook 1. Fouled out: none.)