Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Notre Dame tops Woodland 63-36

After holding just a four-point lead at halftime, Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner told his players to maintain strong "effort and energy" for the remaining 16 minutes.

Led by Quinn Poythress, who scored nine of his game-high 24 points in the third quarter, the third-seeded Bulldogs finished the quarter strong with a 18-4 run and went on to defeat No. 6 Woodland 63-36 in a Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament quarterfinal on Saturday at the Show Me Center.

"That's what we really talked about a lot coming into this game," Unterreiner said about his players effort and energy against Woodland. "That and really being able to get up and press somebody. At the beginning of the year we didn't know if we could press or not and in my honest opinion it was just lack of effort. I thought tonight we had a lot of energy and [relentless] pressure everywhere we went. Nobody played more than two minutes at a time probably except for Quinn and nobody cared. They just gave everything they had for the two minutes and then came off and went back at it."

Woodland coach Logan Nutt said Notre Dame's press disrupted many of the Cardinals' plays.

"We'll get better at that. We know we have to work at that area," Nutt said about playing against Notre Dame's press. "Our guys are good, but we have to get used to playing these type of games and get used to the atmosphere and what really is on the line. We had a chance to beat these guys."

Woodland only led once in the game, when it took a 4-2 advantage with 6 minutes, 55 seconds to play in the first.

Poythress scored his second bucket of the game one minute later, a jumper in the paint, which started a 12-4 run and gave Notre Dame a 14-10 lead at the end of the first.

The teams each scored nine points in the second, but the glaring difference for the Cardinals was turnovers.

Woodland committed nine turnovers in the first half and 19 throughout the game. Notre Dame converted six points off of those mishaps.

"Converting points, that was the key. We talk a lot about transition," Unterreiner said. "Off turnovers, off offensive rebounds or off makes, it doesn't matter. We need to throw down the floor and get moving. With the depth that we have, we can go to a lot of guys and we need to use that to our advantage."

Roster depth proved to be a huge help for the Bulldogs, who had points from 12 different players.

Woodland will play in a fifth-place quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Notre Dame faces Central in a semifinal and rematch of the SEMO Conference consolation championship at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

The Bulldogs missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in their last meeting with the Tigers and suffered a 53-50 loss.

"I expect them to be a lot better," Unterreiner said about Central. "Drew does a phenomenal job with them. I know that's cliche, but he does. They've had a lot more practice time, and they're going to be in much better form than they were when we saw them first. I think that we're in a better place, too. If we can come out and bring the energy we brought tonight, I like our chances."

Woodland 10 9 4 13 -- 36

Notre Dame 14 9 18 22 -- 63

WOODLAND (36) -- Garret Reynolds 11, Zach Beel 10, Cole Schlief 4, Michael McCormick 4, Landon Johnson 3, Tyler Womack 2, Devon Gramlisch 2. FG 14, FT 7-9, F 20. (3-pointers: Johnson 1. Fouled out: Schlief.)

NOTRE DAME (63) -- Quinn Poythress 24, Brendan Boswell 6, Grant Ressel 6, Dean Crippen 6, Nick Bradshaw 5, Blake Bauwens 3, Trenton Schumer 3, Thomas Himmelberg 3, Andrew LeGrand 2, Ross Essner 2, Bobby Jansen 2, Tanner Shively 1. FG 22, FT 12-19, F 16. (3-pointers: Poythress 2, Ressel 2, Boswell 2, Bauwens 1. Fouled out: none.)