Notre Dame, Charleston to play for 2A District 2

BLOOMFIELD -- The top seeds in 2A District 2 both advanced to Friday's championship game with semifinal wins on Thursday night.

Top-seeded Notre Dame avoided a massive upset, nipping Kelly 62-59. In the second game of the evening, Charleston hammered Puxico 71-42.

The championship game will start tonight at 7:30 p.m., following the girls matchup between Kelly and Notre Dame at 6 p.m.

Fifth-seeded Kelly nearly pulled off a shocker, but Tyler Schlosser's game-tying shot rimmed out at the end of regulation to give Notre Dame the win.

"The kids played extremely well," said Kelly head coach Nick Lanpher. "There's not much you can say. There were just a few little fundamental mistakes that we made at the end."

Kelly entered the game on a hot streak, winning five of their last six games. It carried over into the first quarter as the Hawks jumped out to a surprising 12-9 lead.

"We have improved so much in the last five weeks," said Lanpher. "If we had three or four more weeks to go, I feel like we could've beat them. This was probably one of the most enjoyable seasons I've had. It was good to see them improve every game and every day in practice. It was just a good group of boys."

Notre Dame was able to take over in the second quarter and held a shaky 27-25 halftime advantage.

In the third frame Schlosser and Major Burger caught fire as Kelly outscored the Bulldogs 23-18. Barry Zeigler ended the period with a 3-pointer, giving Kelly a 48-45 lead.

Schlosser hit another trey early in the fourth quarter, allowing the Hawks to extend their lead to four points. The shot seemed to wake the Bulldogs though, who answered with a 13-0 run that proved to be the difference in the game. Wayne Essner came up big in that stretch, hitting two 3-pointers.

"We had a couple of defensive breakdowns," said Lanpher. "We knew (Essner) could shoot the three, and we didn't cover him like we should have."

Burger was able to hit back-to-back 3-pointers to shave the lead down to one with a minute left in regulation. Notre Dame's Doug Schaeffer was then fouled putting up a shot. He hit both free throws to put the Bulldogs up 62-59.

Kelly lost several seconds working the ball around looking for an open shot, then Schlosser attempted to send the game into overtime with his 3-pointer at the end of the fourth.

"We didn't get in our offense the last 51 seconds and execute like we should have," said Lanpher. "We had a plan -- it just didn't work."

Kelly ends the year with a record of 8-16, while Notre Dame improves to 20-7.

Schlosser led all Kelly scorers with 18 points, followed by Burger with 16 and Zeigler with 13. Essner paced Notre Dame with 17, hitting five 3-pointers in the game. Scott Wittenborn finished with 15 and Tyler Cuba contributed 11.

Charleston opened the game on a 10-2 run and led 41-25 at halftime. The Bluejays' intense pressure took its toll in the second half as Charleston blew the game wide open with a 19-5 run in the third quarter.

"We wanted to put pressure on them and wear them down," said Charleston head coach Danny Farmer. "We felt we had a little more depth than they had, and we wanted to show them something they hadn't seen all year. Puxico was kind of feisty. I thought they were going to quit a lot earlier, but they kept fighting and coming at it until they got tired."

Charleston cleared the bench and set the cruise control in the fourth quarter, coasting to the uncontested victory. Lezcano Dean led the Bluejays with 17 points, followed by Kewain Gant with 14 and Jordy Mixon with 9.

Derek Binford led Puxico in scoring with 14.

In tonight's title game, Charleston will be looking to avenge last year's district championship loss to Notre Dame. The Bulldogs also beat the Bluejays earlier in the year, 60-58.

"I don't know why, but Notre Dame matches up really well with us," said Farmer. "We're going to have play a good game to beat them. We're going to have to hit the boards, play good defense and shoot the ball well. If we come out and play, we can win it."

Charleston improves to 18-8 while Puxico ends with a record of 11-15.