Notre Dame boys remain on roll

With the upset win Friday at Poplar Bluff, Notre Dame helped make Sikeston's day by handing the Mules their first SEMO Conference loss.

With the upset win Tuesday against Class 4 state-ranked Farmington, Notre Dame may be getting Sikeston's attention.

"Hopefully, it will be on their minds a little bit," Notre Dame senior John Unterreiner said. "But we like the underdog status."

Notre Dame topped Farmington 72-64 to send off its senior class with a victory in a nonconference game in the final week of the regular season.

The Bulldogs improved to 15-8 with their eighth victory in their last 11 games. Farmington, No. 9 in this week's Class 4 poll, fell to 21-4.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.comNotre Dame's Austin Greer shoots as Farmington's Korde Detring tries to draw a charge during Tuesday's game at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has two nonconference games remaining -- tonight at Perryville and Friday at home with De Soto -- before Class 4 District 1 play next week at Sikeston, which is ranked No. 8 in the state and beat Notre Dame twice in December.

"That was early in the season," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said. "We've gotten better, and they've gotten better, too."

Sikeston, which lost in the district championship game the last two years as Notre Dame went on to a state runner-up showing in 2007 and the state title last year, has been state-ranked throughout this season. Those Bulldogs clinched their share of the league title Tuesday with a 66-62 win at New Madrid County Central.

"We need to be peaking at the right time," Roberts said. "After these two games we have this week, I expect us to be playing our best."

Notre Dame's defense, which shut down Poplar Bluff in the second half of last week's 56-47 victory, was in fine form Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs forced nine of 20 turnovers in the first half. After the Knights broke the press, they struggled shooting -- 9 of 21 from the field -- in falling behind 33-25 by intermission.

Notre Dame, which had led by 13 after one period and 28-14 in the second period, saw Farmington rally to within 38-32 with 4 minutes, 19 seconds to play in the third period. After Lance Miller knocked down Farmington's first 3-pointer to pull the Knights within six, Farmington called a timeout, and the momentum swing back.

"We have to make teams earn every basket, every shot," Roberts said, "and at that point, we weren't making them earn anything. The defense really stepped up after that. We're definitely getting better on defense, and our offense keys a lot off of our defense."

The Bulldogs put together an 8-0 run with three steals in about 90 seconds to bump the lead back to 46-32.

Senior forward Austin Greer started the streak on a pass from junior Nick Koeppel; Unterreiner scored off a steal; Koeppel scored off a steal; and Greer took a pass from Unterreiner to close that spree.

Notre Dame stretched the lead to 60-42 early in the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run to open the period. Senior Alex Bader hit a 3, senior Joseph Tolbert hit a 3, sophomore Jacob Tolbert scored on a layin and then on a putback.

Farmington, still down 14 with 2:30 to play, hit three treys in the closing minutes, including one at the buzzer by Miller, who had 24 points to lead all scorers.

Greer led Notre Dame with 22. Jacob Tolbert added 14 and Unterreiner scored 12.

"This was one of our last home games of the year, and our last major home game," said Joseph Tolbert, one of four seniors recognized before the game. "We prepared well in practice and forced them into some turnovers. I think we're just starting to play better and peaking at the right time."

"I think we're playing as well as we have," Unterreiner said. "Lately, we've been getting after teams [on defense], trying to wear them down and finally break them."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Farmington11141524--64

Notre Dame2491722--72

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:FARMINGTON (64) -- Derek Franklin 5, Bryan Krause 10, Andy Summers 2, Taylor Denman 5, Nick Baker 9, Korde Detring 6, Lance Miller 24, Jared Clippard 3. FG 23, FT 14-19, F 19. (3-pointers: Miller 2, Denman 1, Franklin 1. Fouled out: Krause).

NOTRE DAME (72) -- Nick Koeppel 6, Alex Bader 8, John Unterreiner 12, Austin Greer 22, Jacob Tolbert 14, Joseph Tolbert 5, Matt Helle 5. FG 24, FT 10-22, F 17. (3-pointers: Bader 2, Unterreiner 1, Jo. Tolbert 5. Fouled out: None)

JV -- Notre Dame won 43-40.