Final four notebook: Bolivar player gives Notre Dame senior Derek Hulshof a memory for a lifetime with incredible act of sportsmanship

Editor's note: Bolivar coach Robby Hoegh's name has been corrected in this article.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Notre Dame faithful stood to applaud when Grant Ressel and Derek Hulshof took the court as starters in Friday's Class 4 third-place game against Bolivar.

Ressel and Hulshof were starters for the Bulldogs earlier this season before tearing their ACLs, but that didn't prevent them from getting the opportunity to step onto the court at Mizzou Arena.

The two seniors didn't know they were going to start until just before the start of the game.

"At the very beginning, right when they were about to start, [Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner] told us to take our warm-ups off and sit on the bench and told us we were starting," Hulshof said. "It was a surprise. ... It felt good just to go out there and say we played in the state championships."

After Notre Dame controlled the opening tip, Hulshof and Ressel each briefly dribbled the ball before passing to Trent Schumer, who slowly rolled the ball out of bounds to stop play and allow the two seniors to return to the bench.

"I had some butterflies," Ressel said. "It was definitely cool to see your name up on the board."

Both players returned in the final minutes with the game far out of reach. In the final seconds, Bolivar junior Bryce Krueger told teammate Payton Guiot to pass Hulshof the ball. Hulshof retrieved the pass and jogged to the basket for the final points of the game.

Notre Dame's Derek Hulshof makes the last basket of the Bulldogs Class 4 third-place game against the Bolivar Liberators, Friday, March 20, 2015, in Columbia, Missouri. Notre Dame won 65-44. (Laura Simon)

"Of course, they can just stand there," Bolivar coach Robby Hoegh said of Hulshof and Ressel. "Bryce was yelling, 'Throw it to 42, throw it to 42.' And so we got it to Peyton Guiot, and I said, 'Tell him, Bryce. Tell him.' So Peyton threw it there, and the kid was able to score on MU's floor, so that was a good moment."

Krueger finished with five points and shot 1 of 11 from the floor before fouling out with 1:09 left in the game.

"As soon as I saw Bryce, I was just very proud of Bryce. Here Bryce Krueger is a great basketball player -- didn't have his best game and here we got beat, and he's out there looking and seeing to help another kid," Hoegh said. "That's pretty good."

Unterreiner said he didn't expect the Liberators to do what they did.

"I thought it was a special night to kind of honor Grant and Derek to start the game, and it was just an unbelievably classy move by Bolivar there at the end to throw the pass to Derek," Unterreiner said.

Hulshof called it "a class act."

"I didn't get the chance to thank them, but I wish I could've," Hulshof said. "It's definitely something I'll never forget."

Ressel also got the opportunity to fire a 3-point shot from the left wing.

"I felt like they had a lot of respect for us," Ressel said. "... It was just a cool experience."

Attacking the glass

The Bulldogs' created plenty of chances in the paint in Friday's 65-44 win over Bolivar, and rebounding was perhaps the biggest key.

Notre Dame outrebounded the Liberators 32-21, including 18 defensive rebounds.

"That's another thing we talked about, and these guys know. Every game we've been to this year, I write on the board, 'Dominate the paint' and that's just the truth," Unterreiner said. "If we can hold them to one shot, we have a chance to win a lot of basketball games."

Thomas Himmelberg led Notre Dame with a game-high seven boards, while Quinn Poythress and Dean Crippen each contributed five rebounds for the Bulldogs.

Looking ahead

Despite losing 10 seniors, Unterreiner is excited about next year's team, which will include sophomore Blake Bauwens and junior Ross Essner.

"Fortunately we got a lot of playing time from Blake and Ross, especially this year," Unterreiner said. "As the season went on, Ross started playing better and better for us, and he's going to have to step up next year. Blake's going to have to get better, but I'm OK with that."

The Bulldogs will also return several players who contributed on a JV team that experienced a lot of success.

"We've got five other juniors that played JV for us this year. ... When you've got five juniors, you're going to be a little more successful, so those boys are going to need to understand that your record doesn't mean it's going to translate to a good varsity team," Unterreiner said. "We've got a lot of work cut out for us, but we've got guys that are willing to work, and as a coach that's all you can ask for."