Notre Dame boys basketball team ready for semifinal showdown

Members of the Notre Dame boys basketball team were getting ready to leave their hotel and head to practice Wednesday night when they ran into several famous faces in the lobby.

One of them was Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who was joined by several other coaches, including former Steelers star and current outside linebackers coach Joey Porter. All are in Columbia, Missouri for Thursday's Mizzou football Pro Day.

The Bulldogs will continue their quest for a state title at 3:30 p.m. today in a Class 4 semifinal against Hillcrest at Mizzou Arena, and Tomlin, a two-time Super Bowl champion, offered some words of advice.

"We kind of talked to him about what we were up there for, and then he told us, 'Bang those 3s out this weekend, baby,'" Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said. "We took a picture. It was pretty cool."

Notre Dame (26-4) heads into today's final four game after defeating Westminster Christian Academy 62-44 in last week's quarterfinal in Farmington, Missouri.

The Bulldogs had 10 players score in the victory, including 6-foot-3 senior Tanner Shively, whose 17 points made him the only Notre Dame player to reach double figures.

Unterreiner likes the way each member of his squad has been finding a way to get involved.

"I think that speaks volumes on how all our role players have stepped up and are playing the best they've played all year right now, so we don't have to rely on Quinn [Poythress] as much," Unterreiner said. "He can do a lot of the other good things, and he knows that other people can score the ball around him."

Poythress, a 6-7 senior, is averaging 17.3 points per game this postseason, including a 32-point performance in the Bulldogs' 72-49 sectional win over Potosi.

Unterreiner said he hasn't felt the need to tell Poythress anything in particular and believes he's eagerly awaiting the opportunity to bring home Notre Dame's first state crown since 2008.

"He's ready, and the reason why I say that is because I watched his defense Saturday," Unterreiner said. "His defense was unbelievable. He was just all over the place, best closeouts I've seen him have all year long. He's focused. He's relaxed. He's having fun. All the guys are, and we're all ready to go at this point."

Hillcrest (18-12) picked up its biggest win of the season last week, defeating Rolla, the No. 2 team in the MBCA Class 4 poll, in a slim 62-61 decision.

The Hornets lost to Rolla by 36 points earlier in the season but have shown a lot of improvement down the stretch. They've won nine of 12 games since the beginning of February.

"They're really scrappy, as far as attacking the basket and getting rebounds," Unterreiner said about Hillcrest. "They really get after the glass, and that's the one thing we've focused on. We have to limit them to one shot. When they get second-chance opportunities, they're really dangerous."

Leading the way for Hillcrest is senior Brady Petry. The 6-foot-3 guard is averaging a team-high 21.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. He's shooting 50 percent (215 of 432) from the field, including 31 percent (48 of 157) from beyond the arc.

Petry finished last week's game against Rolla with 32 points, including 23 in the second half and the game-winning bucket in the final seconds.

"The Petry kid can shoot it from as soon as he crosses halfcourt, so we'll have to always have an eye on him," Unterreiner said. "... He's really just playing at an unbelievably high level right now.

"In '05, when our Notre Dame boys team got [Bryce] Willen back, they made that state playoff push with Willen playing unbelievable. I kind of told the boys, 'That's kind of what they've got going on here.' They've got this kid who's really playing out of this world right now with a lot of confidence, so we're going to have to try to wear him down."

Lavell Hale, a 6-4 junior forward, is the Hornets' second-leading scorer, averaging 10.9 points per game. Hillcrest also has a pair of freshmen, 5-10 guard Cole Pryor and 6-foot guard Timothy Washington, and a sophomore, 6-2 guard Shahn Clark, to round out its starting lineup.

"They've got some other good players around him. They're pretty young, but the Hale kid's a junior. He hasn't played since junior high, and he's a heck of a player, too," Unterreiner said. "... Hopefully with them having a shorter rotation, we can wear them down in the second half."

With a roster that features eight of 10 seniors who are 6-2 or taller, Notre Dame appears to have an obvious advantage in both size and experience.

"I have a lot of confidence in our post players, and as this year has gone on, they've gotten more and more confident," Unterreiner said. "We've been looking to go to them a lot more, so we will look to throw it inside and start there."

The winner will take on either St. Charles or Bolivar in the state championship, which is slated for 3 p.m. Saturday. The third-place game will be played at 11 a.m. Friday.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we're playing the best we've played all year," Unterreiner said. "I told the guys one thing the other day. I said, 'I'm confident going into this weekend because I'm 100 percent sure that every single one of us is playing the best basketball we have all played all year long -- individually, which makes us playing our best team basketball as well.'"