Notre Dame waltzes into state semifinals

~ The Bulldogs drubbed St. Clair 60-28 and will play St. Charleson Friday.

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- The Notre Dame boys basketball team needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to get out of district play.

The Bulldogs (26-4) barely needed 8 minutes on Saturday to stamp their ticket into the state final four.

Notre Dame crushed St. Clair 60-28 in a Class 4 quarterfinal at the Farmington Civic Center.

"We didn't expect it to be that easy, but our defense played good," Notre Dame junior Ty Williams said.

For the second time in three years, Notre Dame will make the trip to Columbia. Notre Dame will play St. Charles at 9 a.m. Friday in a semifinal at Mizzou Arena. The other semifinal will pit Ruskin, ranked No. 1 in Class 4, against Willard.

Notre Dame's press forced several turnovers in the opening half. With 2 minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Notre Dame already had a 18-3 lead.

St. Clair's leading scorer, Jordan Flora, who averages 15 points per game, was hounded by Notre Dame's defense. Flora had all five of St. Clair's points in the first quarter, which ended with Notre Dame leading 18-5.

"Every time he touched the ball, we knew where he was," Notre Dame junior Ryan Willen said. "Our guards did a real good job not letting him get an open look."

The only glimmer of hope for St. Clair came early in the second quarter, when 6-foot-5 Mike Stolle gave Notre Dame fits down low. Stolle snatched a pair of offensive rebounds and scored six straight points to cut the lead to 20-11.

Before the St. Clair fans had a chance to dream of completing the comeback, Notre Dame was back up 29-11 with 2:30 remaining in the half. And it didn't get any better for St. Clair. Mark Himmelberg's short jumper at the buzzer capped a 20-0 run that gave the Bulldogs a 40-11 halftime advantage.

"We got some steals off the press and got some easy baskets," Notre Dame coach Paul Hale said. "The first half was the ball game. That's about as good as we can play."

Willen had 15 points by halftime, including a pair of 3-pointers. John Unterreiner, who provided several of the steals with his active back-tapping, added nine points at the half. Both of Willen's first-half 3-pointers came in the opening quarter, when St. Clair pitted hefty 6-5 Zeke Schupp against him on defense.

"It broke the ice of the game," Willen said of his 3's. "There was a lot of pressure on us to play well. We made a lot of shots quickly and got on them."

Notre Dame sophomore forward Austin Greer and Willen both attempted several 3-pointers in the game. Willen finished with three 3-pointers and Greer added one.

"We shot pretty well," Hale said. "We just had to take what they were giving us. I thought we had better athletes than they did."

Greer started the second half off with his 3-pointer, and Abe Dirnberger scored off a turnover to extend Notre Dame's run to 25 consecutive points before St. Clair got back on the board. The lead grew to a game-high 41 points at 54-13 with 5 minutes remaining.

St. Clair (20-10) made a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 56-25, but the clock ran continuously throughout the fourth quarter.

Willen finished off Notre Dame's scoring with an emphatic dunk off an assist from Unterreiner.

Willen finished with a game-high 22 points. Unterreiner added 11 points, and Greer and Dirnberger added eight points apiece.

Now the Bulldogs will prepare to improve on their previous trip to the final four, a fourth-place finish in 2005. Notre Dame's run that season came as a surprise, since the Bulldogs finished conference play winless and were 9-16 heading into the district tournament.

"I think when Notre Dame made it the last time they were just happy to be there," Williams said. "This year, we're going to see if we can win it."

Dirnberger, one of just two seniors on the roster, is the lone current player to take part in Notre Dame's last final four run.

"I'm glad to see these kids get to the final four as hard as they've worked," Hale said.

Notre Dame 60, St. Clair 28

St. Clair 5 6 12 5 -- 28

Notre Dame 18 22 16 4 -- 60

ST. CLAIR (28) -- Mike Stolle 10, Phillip Lashley 8, Jordan Flora 8, Justin Narup 2. FG 10, FT 6-11, F 15 (3-pointers: Flora 2. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (60) -- Ryan Willen 22, John Unterreiner 11, Austin Greer 8, Abe Dirnberger 8, Ty Williams 7, Mark Himmelberg 4. FG 24, FT 6-7, F 13 (3-pointers: Willen 3, Unterreiner 1, Williams 1, Greer 1. Fouled out: none)