SCOTT CITY LEAVES ND WITH SECOND THOUGHTS

SCOTT CITY -- Scott City ran away from Notre Dame Friday night in the second quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 25-2.

How did they do it?

By feeding Notre Dame a heaping Spoon-ful of defense and a nearly perfect Sample of outside shooting.

The Class 2A Rams, ranked second in the state, improved to 14-1 Friday night with a 74-51 home victory over their fierce rivals in front of an electric, standing-room only crowd.

After trailing 14-9 at the end of the first eight-minute period, the Rams played a nearly flawless second quarter.

Scott City made 11 of its 17 shots from the field, hit four of its five shots from 3-point range, turned the ball over just once and shut out Notre Dame from the field.

"We changed up our defense a bit," said Scott City center Ryan Weatherspoon. "We needed to step it up and we did.

"They had three or four people on me every time I got the ball. And Ben (Sample) and Ron (Watson) stepped up and hit some big shots."

Scott City, starting with the final possession of the first quarter, went on a 17-0 run.

And Ben Sample was the spark.

Sample, who ended up with 13 points, scored 11 points in a 3 1/2 minute span including three 3-pointers before Notre Dame could blink.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, couldn't hit anything, going 0-for-9 from the floor and turning the ball over three times.

"The name of the game tonight was defense," said Scott City coach Derek McCord. "Our defense stepped up a couple of notches (in the second quarter). I thought we did a good job."

Notre Dame, which led by as many as seven points in the first quarter, rushed some shots in its drought. Moreover, it missed a lot of shots it usually makes, particularly from its leading scorer Chris Dirnberger, who scored six points, eight less than his season average.

Bulldog head coach Chris Neff thought his team handled the press fine, but didn't attack the basket when Scott City settled into its half-court defense.

"And shooting the ball poorly didn't help," he said. "Then we got into some foul trouble. We just didn't handle situations very well there."

After hitting just one of its first seven 3-point attempts, Scott City finished eight of 17 from behind the arc.

Watson went berserk in the third quarter, scoring 12 of his game-high 27 points in that time frame. Watson made four consecutive 3-pointers at one point in the game.

Weatherspoon provided a steady offensive output, scoring 17 points. He left the game late in the fourth quarter after injuring his ankle. He didn't appear to be favoring it too much after the game.

For Notre Dame which has to turn around and play John Burroughs in the Tiger Classic today at 12:30 p.m. the only players who showed up offensively were Josh Eftink and Adam Obermiller, who provided 65 percent of their team's points. Eftink scored eight of his 17 points in the first quarter and made three 3-pointers. And Obermiller was his usual aggressive self, scoring 16 points off the bench for the Bulldogs.

Despite the lopsided score, both teams played hard for four quarters.

"We're going to play hard, no matter what the score," said Neff. "We'll play from tip to buzzer every night. As a coach, it's easy to ask your players to do that, but these kids really do."

With the win, Scott City all but wrapped up the top seed in the upcoming Class 2A, District 2 tournament.

"We have to stay hungry and we have to stay humble," said McCord. "We want to get better each day."