Quick start sends Charleston boys basketball past Notre Dame, into third place in Christmas Tournament

Charleston boys basketball coach Danny Farmer's been waiting for his team to show that it's learning, and Wednesday night's third-place game against Notre Dame provided Farmer with his team's progress report.

The fourth-seeded Bluejays took what happened in a three-point loss to the Bulldogs on Dec. 4 and made sure it didn't happen again, holding off a second-half rally by No. 3 Notre Dame to claim third in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament with a 63-53 victory at the Show Me Center.

"We had to play harder and be more focused and take them more serious -- that they're not going to quit," Farmer said. "They play hard. Notre Dame plays hard, and if you're not up for the challenge then that happens. We're young and we're learning all the time, so I was glad that we did get something out of the first game."

Charleston (6-5) jumped on the Bulldogs out of the gate and held an 18-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Bluejays went up as many as 22 after a 3-point play by Mardardeyon Clark with 3 minutes, 13 seconds left in the first half.

ND's Dawson Dohogne hit a pair of FTs in a one-and-one with 10.1 seconds left before the break and then Ross Essner came up with a quick steal and scored to cut it to 39-21 at halftime.

Notre Dame head coach Paul Unterreiner huddles with his team in the fourth quarter against Charleston, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, during the third place game of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center. Charleston won 63-53. (Laura Simon)

"We talked about it, that they were going to be ready to go," Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said. "A lot of teams lay down in that third-place game and I said, 'This team will be ready to throw the first punch, and here we go.' I said, 'They were not happy that we beat them when we played them the first time,' and I knew they'd be ready to go and they were. And we weren't. That's about as simple as it comes."

Charleston capitalized off several first-half turnovers from the Bulldogs and were able to push the tempo in a way that Farmer hadn't seen from his team this year. He credited his group's improved efforts on the defensive end with, 'More hustle, more focus."

"We played great defense here in this tournament against good teams," Farmer said. "Jackson's a very good team, Notre Dame's a good team and Advance, not to take them out -- they're probably the best 1A team in the state, but we played great against good teams."

The Bulldogs (5-6) cut the deficit to 11 a minute and a half into the second half. Blake Bauwens knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers and then Carson Ketcher split a pair of free throws to pull within 39-28.

"I don't know what I would've done if we came out the way we did in the first half in the second half," Unterreiner said. "The message was not to quit on each other, that you owe it to the guy next to you to give it everything you've got, and if you can't give me everything you've got then let me know because somebody will. In the first half there wasn't anybody on our bench that wanted to give everything they had."

ND held Charleston to just three points -- all free throws -- over the first four minutes of the third and cut it to 42-33 with a 3 by Essner with 4:05 left in the third.

Dontarius Sharp responded with a 3 that sparked a 7-0 spurt for the Bluejays.

Bauwens, who finished with 17 points to lead the Bulldogs, sank a pair of free throws with 31.3 second left in the quarter, came up with a steal and threw the ball ahead for Essner, who got an off-balance jumper to fall as time expired and pull ND within 48-37.

The Bulldogs cut it to eight after Bauwens' third 3 with 6:30 to go but never drew any closer.

"They were really aggressive from the get-go," Unterreiner said of Charleston. "They were the attacker and I got really frustrated because our players were getting upset because of foul calls, and those are just excuses. That's one of the things that we talked about at halftime is that the reason the game's going the way it is is because they're attacking us, we're not attacking them. So I said in the second half I didn't want to hear anybody complaining about anything and I just want you to step up and be the aggressor, make things happen, and I thought we did a really good job in the second half of that."

Clark scored a game-high 21 points for Charleston. Jaqueles Biles and Dontarius Sharp each had 14 points for the Bluejays, who claimed third place for the third consecutive year.

"I thought we put three pretty good games together and that's what we was trying to do," Farmer said. "We was trying to up our level. We played a lot better during this tournament."

Charleston 18 21 9 15 -- 63

Notre Dame 7 14 16 16 -- 53

CHARLESTON (63) -- Jaquavis Rodgers 2, Jaqueles Biles 14, Dontarius Sharp 14, Kelvondre Moore 5, Demarcus Sharp 8, Mardareyon Clark 21, Jeremy Tucker 2, Tenerrious Ewing 11. FG 21, FT 18-29, F 17. (3-pointers: Ewing 2, Don. Sharp . Fouled out: None.)

NOTRE DAME (53) -- Blake Bauwens 17, Josh Seabaugh 3, Ross Essner 13, Tanner Robert 2, Jake Edwards 2, Dawson Dohogne 6, Carson Ketcher 10. FG 19, FT 10-16, F 21. (3-pointers: Bauwens 3, Seabaugh, Essner. Fouled out: Welter.)