Notre Dame boys basketball team falls in first round of conference tournament

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Notre Dame boys basketball coach Paul Unterreiner said his team was feeling confident coming into a matchup against New Madrid County Central in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Tournament.

The fourth-seeded Bulldogs were coming off a last second win against Charleston, a team they had only beaten in two of their last nine meetings.

But against the Eagles, Unterreiner said the Bulldogs were not focused and did not stick to their game plan in a 63-53 loss Tuesday at Sikeston High School.

"I just think it was a lack of effort tonight, and I told those guys that in there," Unterreiner said. "I said, 'Any time you play a team, they're going to give us everything they got, and at this level if you don't bring everything you got, you're not going to be in the game very long,' I thought offensively we were fine when we ran our offense, but when they scored a few buckets on us and took a lead, we kind of panicked and took some bad shots."

The teams traded points in the first quarter with the Eagles clinging to a 12-11 lead after Willie Jimerson hit a mid-range jumper with one minute remaining.

The Eagles went on a 20-10 run in the second quarter. NMCC coach Travis Day said the Eagles' speed and lack of turnovers contributed to the spurt. The Eagles had six turnovers in the first quarter and only one in the second.

"It was [speed] and we stopped turning it over," Day said. "If you remember that first quarter, we had a bunch of just crucial turnovers that turned into points for them. We gave ourselves a chance by being able to get shots and not turning it over."

The Eagles scored on their first four possessions of the second quarter.

Jimerson scored the first two buckets on layups, and Javarcus Word added two more points with a jump shot with six minutes, 12 seconds to go in the half. Jimerson was fouled after putting in a layup with 5:22 to go in the second and added a free throw to extend the Eagles' lead to 21-15.

Notre Dame (1-1) stayed within two points at 21-19, thanks to two baskets from senior Quinn Poythress and back-to-back layups by seniors Derek Hulshof and Dean Crippen with 4:43 remaining.

However, two consecutive Notre Dame turnovers led to points for the Eagles. With 3:28 remaining in the half, Asten Newsom put in a layup off of a turnover. Twenty-five seconds later, Jimerson stole a pass and scored a short-range jumper near the free-throw line to put the Eagles up 25-19.

"We've got to reduce a few for sure," Unterreiner said about turnovers. "If we can get to anywhere between 10 and 15 it's usually not a bad night with the style that we're going to play, but there were some turnovers that really hurt us."

Notre Dame committed 16 turnovers in the game, seven of which resulted in points for NMCC.

Mikael Walker then grabbed the rebound from a missed 3-pointer and took the ball down to the other end for an easy layup. One minute later, Walker put in a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 30-19 lead.

Unterreiner said the Bulldogs rebounding game had been strong as of late, but on Tuesday they were overmatched.

"One thing I thought that we can do pretty well is rebound the basketball. Tonight I think they just out-manned us in there," Unterreiner said.

Poythress, the Bulldogs' tallest player, who stands 6 foot 7, said the Bulldogs couldn't keep up with NMCC's speed in the paint.

"As a team, we kind of fell apart offensively giving up boards," Poythress said. "They had great positioning. We tried to jump with them and beat them to spots, but they had positioning and it just wasn't going to work."

Notre Dame outscored NMCC 16-13 in the third quarter to pull within 45-37, but Jimerson, the Eagles' leading scorer, was too much to handle.

The senior went off for 12 points in the second half in finishing with a game-high 31 points.

"Willie was the best player on the floor by far. That's all there is to it," Unterreiner said about Jimerson. "He single-handily got to the paint every time and either hit a shot or gave it to somebody for a wide-open 3. He was tough to contain, and we just didn't. He's a really good player."

Poythress led the Bulldogs with 20 points, while Hulshof contributed 17.

NMCC will play Jackson in a semifinal Thursday

Notre Dame falls to the loser's bracket and will face Kennett at 6 p.m. today.

Unterreiner said the Bulldogs will have to pick up their attitude and effort in a short amount of time to stay in the tournament.

"That's where it's going to start for us," Unterreiner said. "We've got some things to work on, but we don't have time to work on that tomorrow. So we'll come down here tomorrow, and hopefully you'll see a much more energized basketball team."

New Madrid 12 20 13 18 -- 63

Notre Dame 11 10 16 6 -- 53

NMCC (63) -- Willie Jimerson 31, Mickael Walker 9, Javarcus Word 9, Drew Palmer 8, Asten Newsom 4, Deon Jenkins 2. FG 27, FT 6-10, F 15. (3-pointers: Palmer 2, Walker 1. Fouled out: none)

Notre Dame (53) -- Quinn Poythress 20, Derek Hulshof 17, Blake Bauwens 8, Trenton Schumer 4, Chase Urhahn 2, Dean Crippen 2. FG 22, FT 6-11, F 14. (3-pointers: Bauwens 2, Poythress 1. Fouled out: none)