Notre Dame Boys Get First Win Of Season

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have had a difficult start to this year’s basketball season. They’ve played some of the best teams in town and they’ve done so with two key starters on the bench with injuries, including All-State stud Cole McCormick, who has missed everything so far with a broken right wrist.

The good news is that those veteran players will be back in the next few weeks while some of the younger players are getting valuable playing time.

Facing the Collegedale Academy Eagles at home in the friendly confines of Phifer Gymnasium, Notre Dame played perhaps their best game of the season on Monday night when they scored the most points they’ve scored all year and they allowed the fewest number as well, so you can only imagine the smile stretching across the face of Notre Dame coach Jonathan Adams after his team won for the first time with a lopsided 72-29 victory.

The Irish are now 1-8 for the season.

Matters don’t get any easier as the Irish hit the road Tuesday for a game at Calhoun, but Adams is just happy to get that first win against a region opponent.

“I felt like we left a lot of points out there and we missed way too many layups, but defensively, we did the job we were supposed to do as we were much better tonight than we’ve been all year,” Adams said after a spirited talk with his team following the game.

“We were able to get some big stops defensively and that just makes the offense better. It’s been a learning experience so far, but those early games will only help us be better on down the line. We’ve only been beaten badly once as we’ve been in most of our games, but these last three or four games have been much better as we’ve been taking strides in the right direction,” Adams added.

Collegedale head coach Kurt Fesler was at home sick on Monday night, so assistant coach Jeremy Claridge was calling the shots for the Eagles.

“We had a little success early in the game, but Notre Dame figured it out. They did a really good job of sharing the ball and made life tough for us, so all of the credit goes to them,” he said on a positive note.

Chris Biggs scored on an inside move to start the game for a 2-0 Collegedale lead before Notre Dame scored eight straight for an 8-2 lead following a baseline jumper by Braylon Hammond with 4:45 left in the opening stanza.

A 3 from the corner by Noah Sherwood cut Notre Dame’s lead to 10-7 with 3:26 showing before the Irish finished the quarter on a 11-3 run for a 21-10 lead when the first quarter ended.

That Irish run extended to the start of the second period when Gaas Herman scored six of his game-high 19 points. Hammond added a drive from the wing with 5:27 showing and the difference was 29-10.

The Eagles scored seven points in the last three minutes and trailed by 34-17 at intermission.

The first three minutes of the second half were the backbreaker for Collegedale as Notre Dame scored the first 11 points with Max Santiesteban hitting a 3 to start the run before hitting another to conclude it as the difference was 45-17 with 5:31 left in the third period.

Scoring was a real challenge for the Eagles as they only scored six points in the quarter while Notre Dame had its most explosive eight minutes of the season with 26 points. Ryan Fillauer’s layup in the final minute extended Notre Dame’s lead to 58-23 before another layup from Anthony Sims made it 60-23 with one quarter remaining as the Mercy Rule was used in the final eight minutes.

Herman was tops for the Irish with his 19 points while Santiesteban was next with 13. Walt Wagnon, Colin Robinson and Sims all finished with six points for Notre Dame.

Biggs finished with 14 points to lead Collegedale.

Notre Dame also had an unofficial 22-14 advantage in rebounds as Herman grabbed seven and Sims five for the Irish. Biggs had four for Collegedale while Jordan Vance snagged three.

NOTRE DAME GIRLS 58, COLLEGEDALE 28: This game was relatively close for the first quarter as Notre Dame had a 19-14 lead at the first break, but the Lady Eagles only scored 14 points the rest of the way as the Lady Irish improved to 5-4 overall with their first region win.

Violet Wright had an outstanding game for Notre Dame and finished with 18 points while Dayonna Perryman was next with 11. Emily Moffit was tops for Collegedale with six points.

GIRLS SUMMARY

COLLEGEDALE 14 4 4 6 -- 28

NOTRE DAME 19 14 15 10 -- 58

COLLEGEDALE (28) – Rayburn, Williams-Marlow 3, Klasing 3, Hayes 5, Trott 4, Houghton, Loeffler 2, Melendez 2, Moffit 6, Moody, Sanchez 3.

NOTRE DAME (58) – Baird 2, Spurgeon 8, Dayonna Perryman 11, Pollak, Kitchings 5, Brown 3, McCormick 5, Walling 6, Violet Wright 18.

3-Point Goals: Collegedale 1 (Klasing); Notre Dame 4 (Perryman, Spurgeon, Brown, McCormick).

BOYS SUMMARY

COLLEGEDALE 10 7 6 6 -- 29

NOTRE DAME 21 13 26 12 -- 72

COLLEGEDALE (29) – Fesler, Sherwood 6, Vance 4, Madrigal 3, Woodlief, Kaufman, Moon 2, Chris Biggs 14.

NOTRE DAME (72) – Hammond 7, Goeller 4, Sims 6, Gaas Herman 19, Max Santiesteban 13, Fillauer 5, Shope, Roberts 2, Robinson 6, Wagnon 6, Brown, Redner 4.

3-Point Goals: Collegedale 3 (Sherwood 2, Madrigal); Notre Dame 7 (Santiesteban 2, Robinson 2, Wagnon 2, Fillauer).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)