St. Clair's guard worries Notre Dame's Hale

~ experience could prove the difference in the Class 4 quarterfinals.

One player stuck out as Notre Dame boys basketball coach Paul Hale studied his team's next opponent.

Senior guard Jordan Flora leads St. Clair in scoring, averaging 19.1 points per game, including hitting 52.5 percent from 3-point range, according to stltoday.com.

"We've got to guard Flora," Hale said. "He's their main scorer. From 3, he's really good."

Hale's Notre Dame squad takes on St. Clair in a Class 4 state quarterfinal tonight at the Farmington Civic Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.

"They're a senior-laden club," Hale said. "They've got two good guards and two big guys. They're pretty tough. ... I'm pretty worried about it."

St. Clair (24-5) is no stranger to Notre Dame (21-6). The two teams met in the state quarterfinals last year, with Notre Dame earning the lopsided 60-28 victory.

Hale can hope his team gets off to a start like it did in its sectional game. Notre Dame scored the first 39 points of the game, and the starters were on the bench before De Soto scored a point.

"We shot the ball really well," Hale said. "We'll take that again. I've never been part of something like that."

The two teams both played Farmington this season, with Notre Dame winning 90-66 and St. Clair losing 78-67. But Hale warned against putting too much stock in that comparison.

"You throw it out the window," Hale said. "It's playoff time and seniors rise to the occasion, and I think they start five seniors."

One area where Notre Dame should have an advantage is postseason experience. It reached the state championship last season, falling to Ruskin 59-56. Plus, several key players on the basketball team, including Ryan Willen, John Unterreiner, Mark Himmelberg and Ty Williams, won back-to-back state titles in soccer. So making a deep run in the playoffs is nothing new for Notre Dame.

"It can't hurt," Hale said. "I'm sure being able to go as far as we did last year is helping them at this time. It seems like we're more focused. Everybody is more ready to play when the game starts."