Notre Dame boys cruise past Perryville in district semifinal

~ Notre Dame will face Sikeston in the Class 4 District 1 title game

DEXTER, Mo. -- Ke-Ke Kellum made a bold prediction to teammate Chris McCoy as Notre Dame inbounded the ball under its own basket with 2.4 seconds left in the third quarter.

"True story," Kellum said. "Before Chris threw me the ball, I told him, 'Watch me make this.' I took two dribbles, released it, nothing but the bottom. It felt amazing."

It was that kind of night for the senior guard.

Kellum did everything from making half-court shots to 3-pointers to floaters in the lane to harassing Perryville on the defensive end.

"Right now it's you lose and you go home," Kellum said. "I'm just trying to do whatever my team needs me to do to win."

The top-ranked Bulldogs (21-5) had little trouble in advancing past Perryville in a Class 4 District 1 semifinal, blowing open the game in the second half for a 76-35 win over the fourth-ranked Pirates (11-15). Notre Dame will face Sikeston for the district championship at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Notre Dame led just 10-7 midway through the first quarter, but closed on a 10-3 run to seize a healthy 20-10 lead after one quarter.

Kellum had seven points in the quarter and Jacob Tolbert added nine for the Bulldogs.

The duo took over at the end of the first.

With the game at 10-7, Tolbert scored six consecutive points then Kellum added the final four.

Tolbert scored a team-high 21 points, but none came easy for the junior forward.

"It helps to get in the paint," Tolbert said. "I tried to finish and be aggressive and attack."

Notre Dame received some key bench points in the second quarter.

Senior guard Alex Carroll drained three 3-pointers in the quarter and senior forward Dylan Essner scored six points off the bench.

"It takes the pressure off Jacob," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said of his bench play. "We have a lot of people contributing. You never know where you're going to get it from."

The Bulldogs started to pull away in the second behind the strong bench play and a defense that created havoc.

Perryville's Bryce Weibrecht scored the quarter's opening bucket, but Notre Dame countered with an 11-2 run that put it up 31-14.

Roberts was pleased with his team's play in the first, but noticed a difference in the second and third quarters.

"We came out and played well," Roberts said. "But not hard enough. We have to play hard and we did after the first. The third quarter was our best. We broke down and really guarded."

The Bulldogs took a 40-21 lead into halftime.

Despite the hefty lead, Notre Dame struggled to shut down the Pirates' Weibrecht.

The sophomore forward had 15 points at half and finished with a game-high 24 points.

"The last five to six games he's really come on," Perryville coach Joel Roth said. "We ran a lot of sets for him in a game against Festus and he had a big night. He's really fed off that the last six games. He's a very good athlete with a lot of potential."

Roth was happy with his team's play in the first quarter, but turnovers eventually derailed the Pirates.

"In the first, we limited turnovers," Roth said. "We kept it to a five-on-five game. We worked hard and cut, kept our composure for the most part and had our chances to score. Later on, we turned it over and quit taking care of the ball. We are a young team, though. We have three sophomores starting. We need them to start believing they can play with teams like the Notre Dames and Sikestons."

The Bulldogs put the game out of reach in the third quarter.

Notre Dame held the Pirates scoreless for nearly four and half minutes as it went on an 18-0 run to stretch the lead to 60-26.

Kellum netted five points in the quarter, including his half-court buzzer shot. But it was his defense that stood out.

"He can always guard," Roberts said. "He is probably one of the best defenders around. But when he can score, hit the open 3, it helps so much. He's a tremendous player."

The Bulldogs cruised in the fourth with a running clock and now have their sights set on taking back a district championship.

"We're really excited," Tolbert said. "We have to play really hard. Last year we were really close and this year we want to come out with a win."

"We know how it feels to lose," Kellum said. "We don't want that taste in our mouth."

Notre Dame 20 20 29 7 -- 76

Perryville 10 11 12 2 -- 35

NOTRE DAME (76) -- Nick Koeppel 6, Liam Maher 4, Ke-Ke Kellum 12, Alex Carroll 9, Derek Landewee 2, Tanner Hiett 4, Jacob Tolbert 21, Matt Patton 2, Matt Helle 6, Dylan Essner 6, Andrew Lange 4. FG 31, FT 8-16, F 17. (3-pointers: Kellum 2, Carroll 3, Tolbert 1. Fouled out: none)

PERRYVILLE (35) -- Andrew Martin 2, Jake Dobbelare 1, Ross Moldenhauer 5, Wade Lawrence 1, Bryce Weibrecht 24, Jared Thieret 2. FG 13, FT 8-16, F 10. (3-pointers: Moldenhauer 1. Fouled out: Martin)