Porter leads Sikeston past Notre Dame

Michael Porter pumped his fist and did a little dance at the free-throw line after hitting his first of two free throws.

Porter's free throw gave Sikeston a four-point lead with 2.4 seconds left Friday night.

After being unable to shake Notre Dame all game, Sikeston finally could let out a sigh of relief, as it held on for the 75-70 victory.

"It just felt good to hit that last one and know we won the game, get out of here with the win," Porter said.

Porter led Sikeston with 27 points, including 14 points in the third quarter.

"In the second half, my teammates got me the ball, and if I wanted, I scored," he said.

Porter managed to dominate the second half in part because Notre Dame again was without standout Ryan Willen. Even though Willen was suited up and sat closest to the coaches on the bench, he missed his fifth straight game with an ankle stress fracture. Notre Dame (2-3) suffered its third loss, but Austin Greer said the team isn't worried.

"Ryan will make a 40-point difference when we get him back," Greer said. "We figure when he gets back, we'll do some good. We'll win a lot of games when he comes back."

Without Willen, who plans to play at Division I Lafayette College next year, it was left up to Greer to score close to the basket. He dumped in a team-high 22 points, but was limited to six points in the second half. He managed to knife his way to the basket around the taller Porter to score his points.

"I try to beat him to the spot," Greer said of Porter. "I try to beat him there and hold him and post up the best I can on him. He's a great player. I just try to do what I can. I was getting position on him, and then pump fake. They like to jump. Pump fake, pump fake. When they go up, I go up."

Even after a strong game for Notre Dame, Greer said he's ready for Willen to return.

"It makes things so much easier," Greer said. "They'll double- and triple-team him and leaves me with wide-open shots. It makes me look better than I am."

Even Porter admitted he's looking forward to facing Notre Dame down the road when it gets Willen back in the lineup.

"I would rather have guys like Willen just to know I can beat someone who's taller than me and probably equally skilled as me," Porter said. "I like the competition. The more the competition, the better."

The teams battled back and forth for the first three quarters with neither team enjoying more than a six-point lead. Sikeston finally started to build a lead in the fourth quarter when Porter hit a basket, got fouled, then hit the free throw for a 61-54 lead. Notre Dame pulled within three when John Unterreiner hit a basket with 4:34 left.

But Porter went back to work, hitting a basket and getting fouled again. In the scrum after the foul, Notre Dame's Mark Himmelberg was whistled for a technical foul. In the blink of an eye, Sikeston's lead went from 61-58 to 65-58.

But Notre Dame refused to go away. Unterreiner drove to the basket and found a way to hit the layup while getting fouled. He drilled the free throw to cut Sikeston's lead to 72-70 with 30.3 seconds left.

Juqualin Wiggins hit 1-of-2 free throws to give Sikeston a 73-70 lead with 28.9 seconds left.

Notre Dame tried working for a shot, but nearly threw the ball away twice. It finally settled on a Greer shot in the paint that missed with just under 8 seconds left.

"We were planning to take a shot and planning to score," Notre Dame's Logan Glueck said. "We tried to go for two and get fouled or try and hit the 3. Austin's down inside, so we handed it to him. I thought he might have gotten fouled, but that's not the way it went."

Porter then got fouled and hit his two free throws to seal the win.

Glueck added 12 points and Ty Williams had 11 in the loss.

"We're low one of our star players," Glueck said. "We need to step up. That's what we need. Outside guys, they're working their tails off. Inside guys need to do the same."

SIKESTON 75, NOTRE DAME 70

Sikeston 22 13 21 19 -- 75

Notre Dame 20 11 21 18 -- 70

Sikeston (75) -- Juqualin Wiggins 3, Brandon Washington 12, Matt Rich 12, Sherwin Jones 11, Dominic Fondon 10, Cal Lane 2, Michael Porter 27. FG: 24. FT: 8-12. (3-pointers: Rich 2, Jones 2. Fouled out: none)

Notre Dame (70) -- Nick Koeppel 3, Trenton Vance 2, Ty Williams 11, Blake Gaddis 2, Mark Himmelberg 8, John Unterreiner 8, Austin Greer 22, Joseph Tolbert 2, Logan Glueck 12. FG: 22. FT: 12-17. (3-pointers: Himmelberg 1, Williams 3. Fouled out: none)

SCOTT CITY 60, ADVANCE 37

Scott City 19 17 18 6 -- 60

Advance 9 9 10 9 -- 37

Scott City (60) -- Jay Simmons, 14, Shae Simmons, 7, Derek Goodin 1, Caleb Estes, 3, Brennan Uelsmann, 2, Derek Laxton, 2, Cody Page, 3, Travis Scherer, 3, Ryan Modglin, 10, Alex King 15. FG: 22. FT: 10-20 F: 12. (3-pointers: J. Simmons, 2, S. Simmons, 2. Scherer 1, Page 1.

Advance (37) -- Cody VanGennip, 4, Jacob Bond, 8, Cody Mitchell, 11, Matt Ware, 6, Logan Keene, 2, Chris Welch, 3, Luke Steil, 3. FG: 16. FT: 5-7. F: 17. (3-pointers: None)