Willen pours in 34 points to lead No. 2 Bulldogs past Scott City

~ The tourney's defending champions advanced with a 93-65 victory.

Notre Dame junior post player Ryan Willen owned the paint in Wednesday's quarterfinal meeting with Scott City at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, and the second-seeded Bulldogs owned the game with a 93-65 rout of the seventh-seeded Rams at the Show Me Center.

Willen, 6-foot-7, had no problem backing his way through the Rams' 6-5 junior center Alex King. Following a competitive opening quarter in which Notre Dame led by eight, Willen scored 15 second-quarter points as the Bulldogs took control of the game with a 56-33 halftime lead.

Overall, Willen finished with 21 points in the opening half and a game-high 34 points.

"Ryan's a good player," Notre Dame coach Paul Hale said. "Their kid had a hard time matching up with him."

Willen's presence was not only felt on the offensive end. He held King to just six points in the opening half. King finished with 14 points after scoring six points in the fourth quarter.

"He had a hard time scoring around Ryan," Hale said. "Ryan did a good job offensively and defensively both. He also had a lot of rebounds too."

The defending champion Bulldogs have been much more offensive this season despite losing four starters to graduation. Where the Bulldogs have dropped off is in their full court pressure, where the Bulldogs were able to cause numerous turnovers thanks in large part to the lightning quick guard tandem of Frankie Ellis and Xavier Delph.

Notre Dame continued to work its press against the Rams, having mixed results. The Bulldogs were able to cause more turnovers as the game went along.

"It's not as good as it was last year," Hale said of the press, "but that's the way we have to play. One thing it helps the game move quicker and more chaotic, and we play better that way."

Scott City, which had to battle for its opening-round win, seemed to wilt as the game went along. The Rams scored the opening basket of the second quarter only to allow Notre Dame to use a 13-0 to push the lead to 37-18. From that point the lead did not dip below 14 points.

Unlike their opening win in which the Rams were able to close well in each half, Scott City looked tired coming down the stretch.

"They're a very good basketball team," Scott City coach Lance Amick said. "We don't have much depth at the guard position handling the ball, and we didn't handle the ball. They're very good pressuring the basketball and we didn't do a good job of handling their press in the second quarter."

The Rams looked like they may be able to stick with the Bulldogs in the opening quarter. Scott City nearly got into the double bonus in the opening eight minutes and got to the free throw line 12 times. The lead changed seven times in the opening quarter.

Senior guard Abe Dirnberger helped spark Notre Dame's run with six points early in the second quarter. The Bulldogs were able to change the tide at the free throw line as well, shooting 17 free throws in the second. Thanks to Notre Dame's 32-point second the lead was never in doubt the rest of the way.

"We wanted to get to it early," Hale said. "The first half is a big half for us to try to take care of business."

Ty Williams added 17 points for the Bulldogs and Austin Greer had 13.

Jay Simmons led Scott City with 17 points, although the junior hit just two 3-pointers. Jamie Pinkston and Rynn Eskew added 11 points apiece for the Rams.

Scott City will face Advance in the fifth-place semifinals on Friday.

"We're just not consistent enough defensively or offensively," Amick said. "We're not going to consistently beat good teams playing inconsistently."

Notre Dame 93, Scott City 65

Scott City 16 17 17 15 -- 65

Notre Dame 24 32 18 19 -- 93

SCOTT CITY (65) -- Rynn Eskew 11, Jay Simmons 17, Caleb Estes 6, John Pinkston 1, Jamie Pinkston 11, Derek Laxton 2, Travis Scherer 3, Alex King 14. FG 22, FT 18-31, F 10 (3-pointers: Simmons 2, Scherer 1. Fouled out: Ja. Pinkston)

NOTRE DAME (93) -- Ryan Willen 34, Ty Williams 17, Abe Dirnberger 9, Austin Greer 13, Mark Himmelberg 9, Joseph Tolbert 2, Logan Glueck 2, John Unterreiner 2, Trenton Vance 5. FG 35, FT 21-28, F 23 (3-pointers: Himmelberg 2, Vance 1. Fouled out: none)