Notre Dame boys defeat Charleston a second time this season

Notre Dame's Ty Williams used a simple three-word phrase to sum up the way his teammate, Mark Himmelberg, played Tuesday against Charleston.

"He was money," Williams said.

"It seemed like every time we needed the big shot, we'd kick it out to him and he'd knock it down," Williams added.

Himmelberg, a senior who is starting this winter after coming off the bench last year, scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs past the Bluejays at home 75-55.

Notre Dame nows leads this season's series between the two SEMO Conference rivals 2-1.

Himmelberg said he spent some time Tuesday before the game thinking about the last meeting between the two schools. That was just a few weeks ago in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, when Bulldogs 6-8 center Ryan Willen scored 40 points to help Notre Dame win by three points.

Himmmelberg knew he would have to be on top of his game offensively because he felt the Bluejays would key on stopping Willen.

"Sitting at home before the game, I thought about Ryan last game," Himmelberg said. "I knew the thing they would focus on would be stopping him."

Himmelberg was right.

Charleston's paid a great deal of attention to Willen, who was not only guarded by center Brian Parham but was also often double-teamed from the weak side.

And while Charleston exerted energy eliminating Notre Dame's inside game, Himmelberg was left open outside.

The senior began his strong shooting early, netting two of his four 3-pointers in the first quarter.

"Ryan was driving and they were helping off me and Ty, and Ryan was smart enough to realize that it wasn't there and he was kicking it out and we were open and we were lucky enough to knock them down," Himmelberg said.

Himmelberg scored his first 3-point field goal from the corner just 1 minute, 3 seconds in the contest to give Notre Dame a 5-2 lead. And it would just so happen that the Bulldogs would never look back.

Notre Dame led 18-12 at the end of the first quarter.

After the Bulldogs gained an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter, Charleston rallied and brought it back to within five points at 29-24 with 1:23 remaining in the period.

But Himmelberg scored five points in the final 1:04 to give his team a 36-27 advantage at halftime.

"He's been shooting the ball really well lately," Willen said of Himmelberg. "He comes to the gym a lot and works hard."

How good has he been lately?

"Actually the other day in practice, he didn't miss one shot," senior Austin Greer said. "He hit about 12 or 13 3s and a couple layups. It was unbelievable."

Himmelberg said he has been having a lot of fun shooting the basketball. He said the past couple games he has felt more comfortable and has enjoyed himself more after getting into a stretch where he struggled.

"I was here [at the gym] yesterday at 6:30 in the morning and I just wanted to shoot. Normally, I'm not even awake by then but I just wanted to shoot. So it's fun again."

Himmelberg helped his team keep a steady lead throughout the third and fourth quarters with seven points as the Bulldogs won by 20.

Notre Dame was balanced, also receiving strong performances from Greer, who scored 18, Wiliams who netted 17 and Willen who added 11 points.

NOTRE DAME 75, CHARLESTON 55

Charleston 12 15 18 10 -- 55

Notre Dame 18 18 16 23 -- 75

Charleston (55) -- Antonio Riggens 16, Marquez Ware 2, Jerquawn Sherrell 7, Allen Hemphill 4, Fred Pratt 2, Donald Dixon 9, Brian Parham 15. FG 24, FT 4-7, F 19 (3-pointers: Riggens 2, Parham 1. Fouled out: Pratt)

Notre Dame (75) -- Nick Koeppel 3, Spencer Schoch 2, Ty Williams 17, Mark Himmelberg 18, John Unterreiner 6, Austin Greer 18, Ryan Willen 11. FG 26, FT 14-21, F 11 (3-pointers: Himmelberg 4, Williams 3, Koeppel 1, Unterreiner 1. Fouled out: none)