NOTRE DAME ROLLS PAST ST. VINCENT

PERRYVILLE -- It was hard telling which bit St. Vincent harder: the flu bug or Notre Dame's defense.

Either way, the Bulldogs (7-5) ended up with an easy 73-47 road victory Tuesday night at St. Vincent High School.

St. Vincent (6-3) played with four players sick, including starting point guard Cory Strattman.

With Strattman on the bench and second-string point guard Derek Kutz sick as well, the Indians turned the ball over 28 times, including 11 times in the first quarter.

How much of it was the flu and how much of it was Notre Dame?

"It was a little bit of both," said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. "We had four kids sick, but that's no excuse. Notre Dame played well, shot the ball well and moved the ball well."

The key stretch in the game came immediately after halftime when the Bulldogs held a 38-32 lead.

With 5:18 left in the third, Notre Dame went on an 11-0 run in just over a minute and built its lead to 49-32 and St. Vincent never recovered. Josh Eftink scored eight of his team's first 12 points in the third quarter.

The most important factor for Notre Dame was its ability to finally solve a zone defense. It worked the ball quickly inside and out and showed the ability to nail the 3-point shot when it was open. The Bulldogs hit four of six threes in the first three quarters. Notre Dame missed four threes in mop-up time toward the end of the game.

"Our execution against the zone was better than it has been all year long," said Notre Dame coach Chris Neff, whose team has struggled against zones in its losses this year. "I would like to think St. Vincent is one of the best zone defenses we will play all year. They're taught it in the seventh- and eighth-grade and Coach Valleroy teaches it well."

St. Vincent was able to stay within striking distance in the first half solely because of free throws. The Indians turned the ball over 17 times in the first half, but made 15 of their 20 foul shots before halftime.

"That's our game plan," Valleroy said. "We have to get to the free throw line and take it to people. We did a good job of that in the first half."

Notre Dame was led offensively by Jonathon Ressell, who scored 14 points, 12 which came in the first half. Chris Dirnberger added 13, Adam Obermiller added 12 and Eftink chipped in 10, all of which came in the third quarter.

St. Vincent was paced by Justin Amschler's 11 points, while Ryan Prost added 10.