Notre Dame boys basketball team turns second meeting with Advance into 79-37 rout

The Notre Dame boys basketball team had plenty of trouble with Advance late last month.

Notre Dame experienced no such problems in Thursday night's rematch.

The Bulldogs' vaunted pressure defense was at its suffocating best and visiting Advance never had room to breath, getting blasted 79-37 in a game that was every bit as lopsided as the score.

"I was surprised," Advance coach Andrew Halford said. "The first time we played them it was close until pretty late in the game. We just came out bad tonight. We came out slow."

Notre Dame improved to 11-5 by winning for the eighth time in its last nine games. Advance fell to 10-6.

"I was kind of surprised," Notre Dame senior forward Joe Siebert said about the lopsided result. "But we came out focused and ready. We just really executed well."

The Bulldogs beat Advance 72-59 in the quarterfinals of the Southeast Missourian Christmas tournament at the Show Me Center. They led by just four points after three quarters.

"The first time we played them, we couldn't press them. It was a close game until the end. They have a good team," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said. "Defensively we were everywhere tonight, forcing turnovers, creating easy shots.

"This was our best defensive game. When we play like this, we're hard to beat."

Advance had 20 turnovers in the first half. The Hornets trailed 21-4 after one quarter and 42-12 at the break. Many of the miscues led to easy Notre Dame baskets.

"Their pressure bothered us," Halford said. "They have a lot of good athletes."

The Bulldogs were ready to go -- and tired of practicing -- after a nine-day layoff since their last game.

"We had a long break. We were focused," senior guard Ryan Hale said. "We didn't want to take a step back. We want to keep it going."

Siebert and Hale led a balanced offensive attack with 15 points apiece. Siebert had 10 points in the first-half, including eight in the second quarter. Hale scored nine points in the third period.

Senior guard Nathan Meystedt, the Bulldogs' top scorer at about 20 points per game this season, added 12 points.

Notre Dame also got nine points from senior forward Cody Heisserer and eight from junior guard Patrick Williamson.

"When you go 15, 15, 12, 9 and 8, that's a balanced offensive attack," Roberts said. "I was pleased with just about everything."

Roberts also was happy that he got to clear his bench for much of the second half and the entire fourth quarter, which was played with a running clock after Notre Dame led 69-32 entering the period.

Freshman Quinn Poythress hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter. Another freshman, Grant Ressel, added a 3-pointer in the final period.

"It was good to get a lot of guys in the game, the guys who will be playing for us in the future," Roberts said. "Quinn played all four quarters. He's going to be playing quite a bit because of the way he shoots the ball."

Hale and Williamson both had two of Notre Dame's eight 3-pointers.

Junior forward Ethan Barr and sophomore guard Lane Below paced Advance with nine and eight points, respectively.

Notre Dame led 14-2 midway through the first quarter, thanks in part to seven early Advance turnovers. The Hornets never recovered.

"We came out with a lot of energy," Siebert said. "Waiting nine days, we were ready to get out and play."

Advance 4 8 20 5 -- 37

Notre Dame 21 21 27 10 -- 79

ADVANCE (37) -- Braden Bien 5, Aaron Veale 2, Hunter Wilson 1, Luke Below 8, Trey Wallace 6, Levi Davis 1, Josh Robison 1, Jacob Spears 2, Curtis Gilliland 2, Ethan Barr 9. FG 11, FT 14-23, F 13. (3-pointers: Bien 1. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (79) -- Jonathan Lynch 5, Jordan Reddin 2, Nathan Meystedt 12, Patrick Williamson 8, Quinn Poythress 6, Luke Mocherman 4, Joe Siebert 15, Cody Heisserer 9, Grant Ressel 3, Ryan Hale 15. FG 31, FT 9-14, F 18. (3-pointers: Lynch 1, Williamson 2, Poythress 2, Ressel 1, Hale 2. Fouled out: none)

JV -- Notre Dame won 73-23.