Notre Dame boys basketball team makes strides with conference win over New Madrid County Central

On a night when made baskets were at a premium, Blake Bauwens was hardly perturbed.

The Notre Dame junior shook off a scoreless first quarter and was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc in the second quarter, during which the Bulldogs took the lead for good.

Bauwens finished with a game-high 28 points, leading Notre Dame to a 72-63 win over New Madrid Country Central in Thursday's SEMO Conference action at Notre Dame Regional High School.

"Are we perfect yet? No. But I think we're making strides in the right direction," Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said. "Every conference game is huge for us. That conference tournament is nice to have, and it's fun to win. It's important. It's big to win, but the reality of it all is that we need to get better every game. And I felt like we got better every game down at Sikeston. ... Tonight was just an ugly game all around, but I saw us do some things that told me that we're improving."

Both teams were a combined 6-of-31 (19 percent) shooting in a first quarter that ended with Notre Dame (3-3, 2-0 SEMO Conference) holding an 8-7 advantage.

The Bulldogs opened the second period with a 5-0 run, but NMCC (3-4, 0-1) responded with six points to tie the game at 13-all on a 16-foot jumper by Chris Farr with 3 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the first half. Bauwens knocked down three triples as Notre Dame went on an 11-2 run over the final 1:34 of the half and carried a 32-23 lead into halftime.

"In the first quarter, he wasn't very good," Unterreiner said about Bauwens. "We pulled him out and said, 'Where's Blake? I don't know what's going on right now, but your head needs to get in the game.' We had a few of our guys like that. We put him back in there in the second, and he was still kind of out of it. We pulled him back out and put him back in. He hit that first shot and kind of got that pep in his step, and he just took off.

Notre Dame's Garrett Siebert shoots against New Madrid County Central's Palmer Campbell during the second quarter Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Fred Lynch)

"We're going to let Blake do what Blake does, whatever that is. They were leaving him open on the perimeter, and I'm going to trust him to take that shot anytime he wants it."

The Bulldogs led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, but the Eagles used a 13-2 spurt to trim their deficit to three points, 45-42, at the end of the period.

However, that's as close as NMCC got.

Notre Dame quickly stretched its lead to eight points before the Eagles twice pulled within five. Both teams combined for 38 fouls in the second half, and the Bulldogs closed the game out at the free-throw line. They were 15 of 20 (75 percent) from the charity stripe in the final period.

"I thought we made a lot of mistakes, and we were lucky not to get beat by them," Unterreiner said. "I thought our three wins so far have all been close games, and we've found a way to close them out. That's really encouraging me as a coach. ... That's something you can't really teach. That's something kids either have in them, or they don't."

NMCC coach Travis Day liked the effort he saw from his players but wants to see his team put together a complete game.

"We're not putting four quarters together," Day said, "It seems like we've always got that one quarter that puts us in the hole, so now we spend all our energy and effort trying to get out of that hole.

"We played hard. We've just got to put four quarters together."

Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner directs his team against New Madrid County Central during the third quarter Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Fred Lynch)

Unterreiner was encouraged by the play of his two post players -- Dawson Dohogne and Carson Ketcher. Dohogne, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while Ketcher, a 6-4 senior, added 10 points and seven boards.

"We're starting to really feed the post," said Unterreiner, whose team hauled in 35 rebounds. "I felt like in the second half we kind of got away from that, and our guards started struggling because of the pressure, but when we can throw it in there, we're a much better basketball team."

The Eagles were paced by junior guard Javarcus Word, who was held to 4-of-21 (19 percent) shooting from the field but did most of his damage at the free-throw line. He had a team-high 18 points and was 10 of 14 (71 percent) from the charity stripe.

Unterreiner said his team has struggled against players who are able to create their own opportunities and take over a game. The second-year coach was complimentary of the way Word was able to open up the Eagles' offense in the second half.

"Heck, we triple-teamed him one time, and he got out of it," Unterreiner said. "He's just a fantastic player, and he broke us down a lot and got easy looks for some people. That kind of got them going in the second half with those looks that he created."

Notre Dame's Dawson Dohogne takes a shot over New Madrid County Central's Tyler Sprouse, left, and Jamal Jackson during the first quarter Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Fred Lynch)

Palmer Campbell contributed 14 points for the Eagles, who finished 17 of 67 (25 percent) from the field.

"The ball wasn't going in the basket for us, and that affected how we played on the other end," Day said. "We can't do that because there are going to be many nights you're not going to be shooting well, but you've still got to play great defense to give yourself opportunities. ... It's something that's fixable, so we've just got to get back in there and fix it up."

The Bulldogs' conference slate doesn't get any easier.

Notre Dame will host a red-hot Sikeston team at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Unterreiner knows his team will be facing a tough challenge. Notre Dame dropped a 69-52 decision against Sikeston, which remains perfect on the season at 6-0, in the opening round of last week's SEMO Conference Tournament.

"The key for our team on Friday is to understand that Sikeston is going to come out with a lot more intensity than they did in that first game against us," Unterreiner said. "We can't assume that it's going to be that close right away if we don't bring it. If we don't bring everything we've got, Sikeston will be up on you in a hurry, and it'll get ugly. They're a very good basketball team, and coach [Gregg] Holifield is an unbelievable coach. He's got those guys playing really well right now.

"We've just got to take it one game at a time and realize that every game in our conference is very, very important and very, very tough."

NMCC 7 16 19 21 -- 63

Notre Dame 8 24 13 27 -- 72

NMCC (63) -- Javarcus Word 18, Palmer Campbell 14, Chris Farr 9, Deon Jenkins 8, Garrison Keene 6, Jamal Jackson 5, Craig Beasley 2, Ronnie King 1. FG 17, FT 28-35, F 29. (3-pointers: Campbell. Fouled out: Jenkins.)

NOTRE DAME (72) -- Blake Bauwens 28, Dawson Dohogne 14, Carson Ketcher 10, Tanner Robert 6, Josh Seabaugh 5, Winston Welter 5, Ross Essner 3, Garrett Siebert 1. FG 20, FT 26-37, F 27. (3-pointers: Bauwens 6. Fouled out: Dohogne.)

JV -- NMCC won 50-47