Top-seed ND falls in semis to Charleston

~ Injuries, Bluejays proved too much to overcome as Notre Dame encountered a 77-47 loss.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Notre Dame was without two of its top players in Ryan Willen and Austin Greer when it took the court against Charleston in the semifinals of the SEMO Conference tournament on Thursday.

Charleston's Jerquawn Sherrell said his team was aware of Notre Dame's vulnerabilities with the absence of Willen and Greer, both sidelined with injuries.

"Coach said since their big man was out, we had to get out and get ahead quick," Sherrell said. "We did what coach said."

The Bluejays certainly did what their coach told them as they took a commanding 15-2 lead just 3 minutes, 50 seconds into the contest when Sherrell netted a 3-pointer from the corner.

At several times early on, it seemed as though Sherrell could score from anywhere on the court as he poured in 17 first-half points.

The Bluejays, who led by 20 after the first quarter and 30 at halftime, cruised to a 77-47 win over the Bulldogs.

Charleston, a program that won the Class 3 state championship last season, will play Jackson in the finals.

"I kept feeling it and coach told me to just keep shooting it if I had open looks," Sherrell said. "It just kept going in."

Notre Dame refused to give up when down by 30 at halftime.

The Bulldogs cut the deficit to 13 points in the third quarter, fueled by the hot shooting of Ty Williams, who netted eight points in the third.

But Charleston, which ran a full-court man-to-man defense most of the game, was just too much.

Williams said Notre Dame coach Paul Hale told the team at halftime it had to come out and compete no matter the score.

"First half, we came out and we weren't ready to play," Williams said. "We had to be ready for that pressure defense. We knew it was coming, it was just handling the ball and getting into an offense.

"This was embarrassing tonight. We've got a lot of work to do and hopefully we are all ready for it and be ready to go at them the next time."

Notre Dame senior Mark Himmelberg added: "We didn't come out with much defensive intensity. We didn't play hardly any defense until early on in the second half. We were just giving them easy shots and we weren't rebounding. They were knocking them down."

Hale said he does not know when Willen will return, and Greer will try to practice next week.

"We are playing short-handed right now, but the others have got to step up and play better," Hale said. "Those two are our inside game. It hurts, but the people we have need to step up and play better."o