Notre Dame boys basketball team wins 55-53 thriller against Central

The reactions after Tuesday night's boys basketball game between Notre Dame and Central were as varied as one would expect given what happened in the final seconds.

The scoreboard declared Notre Dame a 55-53 victor, and the Bulldogs did plenty to put themselves in a position to win in the final minute or so, but that's not likely to be the thing most people who saw the game's ending remember.

With the clock ticking under 5 seconds to play and Central in possession down a point, a cross-court pass landed in the arms of a Central player just as a Notre Dame player made enough body contact to force both off balance and the ball loose.

Or maybe a pass was about to land in the arms of a Central player just as a Notre Dame player swooped in to try to intercept the pass and the result was enough contact to send both of them flailing and the ball bouncing away.

Either way, no whistle was blown and chaos took over.

Central’s T.J. Tisdell takes a shot over Notre Dame’s Ryan Hale, left, and Joe Siebert during the second quarter Tuesday at the Show Me Center. Notre Dame won 55-53.

A scrum for possession ended with Notre Dame securing the ball.

Central coach Drew Church raced down the sideline to object, and in a flash he was standing near Notre Dame's bench as he screamed his objection.

He got a whistle then. The official called a technical on him with 4 seconds remaining.

Notre Dame senior Nathan Meystedt made 1 of 2 free throws that resulted from the technical, and Central spent the remaining time on the clock trying to foul the Bulldogs enough times to get in the bonus.

"Congratulations to them," Central senior T.J. Tisdell said after saying he thought teammate Garan Evans had been fouled. "They got the win. It was an ugly win, but they got the win that way."

Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts went with a friendly but convincing "no comment" before switching to, "It was two teams going after the ball" standby and eventually settling on it being good to get out of the Show Me Center with a win.

Church no doubt agreed with Tisdell but gave a measured response.

"I'm going to try to say this well," Church said. "Let's just say it's unfortunate the game had to end like that. Two teams battling and it's unfortunate a great game like that had to end in that fashion."

Central led 53-48 with 1 minute, 24 seconds to go. That's when Notre Dame got two offensive rebounds before Jonathan Lynch scored two on the Bulldogs' third attempt.

The Bulldogs then forced their only two turnovers of the second half on Central's next two possessions. Jordan Reddin scored following the first turnover, and senior Ryan Hale got a pass inside from Reddin and scored after the next turnover to give Notre Dame the lead with 24 seconds left.

"I got the ball and right as I got it, I fumbled it," Hale said. "After that, I knew I couldn't dribble. I didn't know if I could pass it out. I knew there was 20 seconds left, but I was like, ‘I'm going to take it,' so I just go up for it and luckily it went in."

Hale was deep under the basket by the time he went up for the shot over Central's Jamal Cox.

"I had to readjust where I was and find out where I was on the court," Hale said. "When I saw the basket, I just knew I had to go up and use the basket as much as possible to defend the shot. Luckily it went in."

Hale finished with six points in the game.

"In the end, when it came for big guys to make big plays, Jordan Reddin, Jonathan Lynch, Ryan Hale -- those guys stepped up for us and it wasn't Nathan," Roberts said.

Meystedt, who still finished with a team-high 16 points, was called for his fourth foul with 4:07 left in the third quarter and did not return to the game until 6:36 remained in the fourth. He reentered to take two free throws for Reddin, who temporarily left the game after being fouled.

Tisdell and Cox combined to score 39 of Central's 53 points. Tisdell finished with 20, while Cox, a sophomore, had 19.

"They finished pretty well at the rim," Church said. "Early they sagged down and slapped a lot. In the second half, we were a lot better at being strong and delivering the ball and getting the ball inside. In the second half, their pressure didn't bother us and we were able to throw the ball inside. The first half it did a little bit."

Central turned over the ball 10 times in the first half before going most of the second half without committing another.

"They made some good halftime adjustments," Roberts said. "You've got to give them credit. They're well coached and Drew wasn't going to let that happen in the second half, so they handled our pressure a lot better and they made plays. But when it came down and we had to pressure that ball, we really picked our defense up."

Notre Dame 15 16 10 14 -- 55

Central 9 15 17 12 -- 53

NOTRE DAME (55) -- Demonte Farmer 5, Jonathan Lynch 11, Jordan Reddin 7, Nathan Meystedt 16, Patrick Williamson 2, Joe Siebert 4, Cody Heisserer 4, Ryan Hale 6. FG 19, FT 12-15, F 18. (3-pointers: Farmer 1, Lynch 3, Siebert 1. Fouled out: none)

CENTRAL (53) -- Ross McClanahan 2, Vane Tooler 1, Devon Johnson 2, Garan Evans 9, T.J. Tisdell 20, Jamal Cox 19. FG 20, FT 10-14, F 13. (3-pointers: Evans 3. Fouled out: none)