December 6, 2014
Notre Dame upends Charleston 75-73 in overtime
sports@standard-democrat.com CHARLESTON -- Notre Dame head coach Paul Unterreiner had no idea what to draw up next. His team was tied with Charleston with nine seconds left in overtime and the first-year head coach had everyone confused. "Coach struggled to draw up a play," Notre Dame senior Thomas Himmelberg said. "None of us knew what we were doing. Originally, he had a play drew up for our sophomore (Blake Bauwens) to hit the game-winning shot. He came in the locker room and said 'sorry.'"...
By Chris Pobst - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
CHARLESTON -- Notre Dame head coach Paul Unterreiner had no idea what to draw up next.
His team was tied with Charleston with nine seconds left in overtime and the first-year head coach had everyone confused.
"Coach struggled to draw up a play," Notre Dame senior Thomas Himmelberg said. "None of us knew what we were doing. Originally, he had a play drew up for our sophomore (Blake Bauwens) to hit the game-winning shot. He came in the locker room and said 'sorry.'"
The broken play was saved by Himmelberg, who gobbled up an offensive rebound for a putback layup with three seconds remaining to give Notre Dame a 75-73 conference win over Charleston Friday.
It's believed to be Notre Dame's first ever victory at Charleston High School. The Bulldogs had not won at Charleston at least since 2001, when Notre Dame became a part of the SEMO Conference and the two began playing each other in the regular season. It's just Notre Dame's second win against Charleston in their last nine meetings. Their last win was a season ago during the opening round of the SEMO Conference tournament.
"I told my guys in the locker room my first game coaching I did not draw up a good play," Unterreiner said. "But, I'd rather be lucky than good any day. They saved me tonight. That's why you shoot with time left on the clock. Stuff like that can happen."
Trenton Schumer led Notre Dame (1-0) with 19 points and four steals. Derek Hulshof added 16 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.
Charleston (2-2, 1-1 SEMO Conference), which had four players in double figures, was led by Delfincko Bogan's 22 points and 11 rebounds. Tyler Craig scored 17 points and had eight rebounds. Tennerrious Ewing and Dontarious Sharp, who both battled foul trouble, added 14 and 10 respectively.
"It came down to some small things," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "Right there at the end we didn't box out. (Himmelberg) got the rebound and put it back in. We're young with a lot of freshmen and we played hard. We would have liked to have won the game but I can see some good things out of this."
Notre Dame, like most teams, knew the key to slowing down the Bluejays was to somehow hamper its top player. The Bulldogs attacked Bogan, Charleston's leading scorer and returning all-state player, with double teams and forced the senior into tough shots around the basket.
Bogan, who finished the night 6 of 22 (27 percent) from the floor, single-handedly took down Notre Dame during it's second meeting last season at Notre Dame.
"We definitely keyed on Delfincko," Himmelberg said. "We wanted to stay in front of him and then towards the end of the game try to double-team him and keep the ball away from him. We didn't want Delfincko to beat us. He's beaten us before."
Between the overtime and fourth quarter, there were 10 lead changes and 10 ties. The overtime started with a 66-all tie and each team converted 3-point plays to start the quarter -- Bogan for Charleston and Hulshof for Notre Dame.
Senior Quinn Poythress put Notre Dame ahead 71-69 with a layup at the 2:04 mark. A missed layup by Schumer and a turnover Poythress allowed a tying basket by Ewing with 50 seconds left. Poythress again put Notre Dame in front with a basket 15 seconds later.
With 24.1 seconds remaining, Craig tied the game for the third time in overtime with two made free throws. Notre Dame called a timeout with nine seconds left to set up the final play which was taken over by Poythress. The 6-7 senior pulled up for a long 3-pointer that rimmed out and fell on the weak side to Himmelberg for the game-winner with three seconds left.
"Quinn made a heads up play going to the corner and putting up a shot," Himmelberg said. "I knew there wasn't much time left on the clock and I had nothing to lose going to get the rebound. I was able to pull it away and put up a quick two."
With the clock still running and a timeout in hand, Charleston scrambled to get the ball inbounds but the buzzer sounded as the pass was in the air.
"I looked up at the clock and there was about four-tenths of a second left," Farmer said. "I didn't think we had enough time. That's why I didn't call (the timeout)."
Himmelberg ended the game with four points and four rebounds.
"Thomas did an excellent job finding that ball and sticking with it," Unterreiner said. "He sat on the bench for a little while because I had to run Quinn and I needed him at the end. He stepped up."
Notre Dame, which returned 11 seniors from their 17-9 team a season ago, held a 36-29 lead at halftime after shooting 64 percent (16 of 25) from the floor. Schumer kept the Bulldogs afloat with 13 points in the second quarter while Poythress, Shively and Dean Crippen -- three of Notre Dame's top four inside scorers -- battled foul trouble.
"I was comfortable coming down here, win or lose, because I knew we were prepared," Unterreiner said about overcoming foul trouble and having guys step up in their place. "I knew we were mentally ready. I think a year of maturity has grown on these guys."
An old fashioned 3-point play by Craig with 4:44 left in the third quarter gave Charleston its first lead since the final minute of the first period. The lead exchanged hands three consecutive possessions before back-to-back buckets by Hulshof put Notre Dame in front 45-42 with 49 ticks left in the quarter. Ewing, who scored all of his 14 points in the second half, cut Charleston's deficit to 45-44 entering the fourth.
There were eight lead changes and seven ties in the fourth quarter alone. After Bogan tied the game at 66-all with 1:34 left in the frame, Schumer was whistled for a five second call giving Charleston possession moments later.
Bogan and his backcourt mates held the ball for the remaining minute to set up the final shot of the game which was an off-balanced layup by Bogan that hit the side of the rim.
Hulshof came down with the rebound but was called for a walk with 0.4 ticks remaining. Charleston tried for a last second shot but the ball was tipped away to force the game-winner by Himmelberg in overtime.
"It's just a big game for us," Himmelberg said. "It's a big momentum swing for us at the beginning of our season. We have to build off this and keep getting better because we have a tough conference tournament coming up."
Both teams will take part in the SEMO Conference tournament starting Monday. Notre Dame, which is the tournament's fourth seed, will take on No. 5 New Madrid County Central on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
"It's no easier," Unterreiner said about its upcoming tournament. "That's our conference. That's the great thing about our conference is that it gets you ready. It gets you tested for the playoffs. It prepares you every single night."
Sixth-seeded Charleston will battle rival Sikeston, the third seed, on Monday at 7 p.m.
"This was a big game against a good team," Farmer said about Notre Dame. "They had 10 people coming back and in reality I thought we should have been beaten by 20. But, we played them tough."
Notre Dame 16 20 9 21 9 -- 75
Charleston 15 14 15 22 7 -- 73
NOTRE DAME (75) -- Tanner Shively 3, Chase Urhahn 8, Quinn Poythress 15, Trenton Schumer 19, Thomas Himmelberg 4, Derek Hulshof 16, Dean Crippen 6, Nick Bradshaw 4. FG 31 FT 10-21 F 25. (3-pointers: Poythress 1, Schumer 2. Fouled out: Shively, Urhahn.)
CHARLESTON (73) -- Kelvondre Moore 5, Dontarius Sharp 10, Delfincko Bogan 22, Demarcus Sharp 2, Jeremy Tucker 3, Tennerrious Ewing 14, Tyler Craig 17. FG 22 FT 23-29 F 21. (3-pointers: Do. Sharp 2, Bogan 3, Ewing 1. Fouled out: none.)
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