Notre Dame boys reach district final in a rout

~ The Notre Dame boys reached the title game with a 69-29 victory.

Notre Dame's boys basketball team made sure any upset notions were stamped out early on in Thursday's semifinal game, as the Bulldogs routed No. 5 Dexter 69-29 in the Class 4 District 1 tournament at Sikeston.

The top-seeded Bulldogs will face No. 2 Sikeston at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the championship game. This is the third straight finals appearance for Notre Dame, which lost to Sikeston in the finals last year. Notre Dame improved to 23-4, surpassing its 22-win campaign from a year ago.

After a slow first couple of minutes on Thursday -- the Bulldogs were tied at 4-4 before opening things up with a 15-0 run -- Notre Dame turned it on and built a 22-6 first-quarter lead. The lead was up to 44-14 at halftime with Notre Dame leaving little doubt of its championship berth. Junior guard Ty Williams and junior center Ryan Willen combined for 21 first-half points, including three 3-pointers from Williams.

"They just had trouble scoring," Hale said of Dexter.

Willen, Notre Dame's leading scorer, finished with 17 points. Sophomore forward Austin Greer added 14 points and Williams finished with 11.

Kevin Hart led the Bearcats with six points. Dexter did not score more than eight points in any quarter.

Notre Dame extended its winning streak to nine games heading into tonight's championship. The Bulldogs defeated Sikeston in the regular season, but Sikeston was without starting forward Ray Rodgers at the time.

Sikeston, runner-up in Class 4 last year, improved to 17-8 with a 57-26 win over No. 3 Fredericktown. Sikeston has won eight straight.

"They're pretty good," Hale said of Sikeston. "It will be a battle."