Notre Dame boys basketball team rides pressure past Kelly

Notre Dame's pressure is tough enough under normal circumstances.

Throw in a 10 a.m. start, and Kelly never solved it.

The Hawks committed 41 turnovers in their opening-round game at the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament. The result was an 86-15 victory for the Bulldogs.

"I was very pleased with the amount of effort we came out with early," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said. "At 10 in the morning is early, but we came out with a job in mind and we did exactly what we needed to do."

The Bulldogs (4-4) forced the Hawks into 14 turnovers in the first quarter, and Kelly only shot 25 percent (2 of 8) from the floor during the opening period.

"We just forced them into bad shots," Notre Dame junior Patrick Williamson said. "They couldn't get comfortable. Just kept the game hectic from the first quarter to the fourth."

The Bulldogs opened a 28-4 lead after the first quarter by hitting 69 percent of their shots (11 of 16).

Notre Dame's offense never cooled off. The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 55 percent (36 of 66) from the field. Roberts credited his team's defense for the offense's success.

"Our best offense is our defense, so if a team can handle our defense and make us play a half-court game, that's one of our weaknesses," he said. "I thought we did exactly what we needed to do."

Kelly finished shooting 21 percent (6 of 28).

The Bulldogs had 12 players score, although they did lose junior Clayton Jansen.

"It's great to get these guys in there that work so hard in practice," Roberts said. "Unfortunately Clayton Jansen tore his ACL today. He's a really good player for us."

Nathan Meystedt led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Williamson added 12 and Joe Siebert 11.

Gavin Ray and Jeff Gates paced the Hawks with four points apiece.

Kelly 4 4 4 3 -- 15

Notre Dame 28 20 23 15 -- 86

KELLY (15) -- Gavin Ray 4, Aaron Grainger 2, Jeff Gates 4, Derrick Garner 3, Gabe Felter 2. FG 6, FT 3-7, F 9. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Felter)

NOTRE DAME (86) -- Demonte Farmer 2, Jonathan Lynch 5, Jordan Reddin 3, Nathan Meystedt 13, Justin Landewee 6, Patrick Williamson 12, Alex Landewee 10, Luke Mocherman 9, Clayton Jansen 5, Joe Siebert 11, Cody Heisserer 6, Ryan Hale 4. FG 36, FT 10-15, F 10. (3-pointers: Lynch 1, Meystedt 1, Jansen 1, Williamson 1. Fouled out: none)