SIKESTON, Mo. -- After playing to a stalemate after 28 minutes of action, No. 8 seeded Notre Dame pulled away from No. 9 Dexter at the free-throw line over the final four minutes of regulation in a play-in game of the nine-team SEMO Conference Tournament on Monday at Sikeston Field House.

Notre Dame made nine of the 11 free throws down the stretch and finished 15 of 18 overall to escape with a 54-50 victory.

Carson Ketcher netted a game-high 14 points and sank a critical free throw for Notre Dame, which outscored Dexter 11-7 at the line over the second half of the fourth quarter.

A 3-pointer by Dexter's Jacob Pedigo allowed the Bearcats (0-3) to pull within three points, 53-50, with 5.2 seconds remaining on the clock. Ketcher was fouled on the ensuing inbound and hit the second of two free throws to seal the win for Notre Dame (2-1).

"I was really pleased with our free-throw shooting all together tonight," Notre Dame coach Paul Unterreiner said. "Carson hit some big free throws for us down the stretch.

"The only thing that keeps sticking out in my head is energy," Unterreiner added. "I didn't feel like we played with a lot of energy. Anytime you don't bring energy, I don't care who you play, you can get beat. That's a lesson we got close to learning the hard way tonight."

Notre Dame will take on top-seeded host Sikeston (2-0) in a quarterfinal at 7 p.m. today.

Dexter stayed within one possession of Notre Dame for most of the fourth quarter.

Ethan Flowers hit a 3-pointer to give the Bearcats its final lead at 39-38 with 7 minutes, 28 seconds left in regulation. Notre Dame scored the next five points to move ahead 43-39 with 4:43 left before Dexter followed with the next four points to tie things up at 43-43 with four minutes remaining.

Notre Dame held a lead of 48-45 with 2:07 remaining before a basket in the paint by Dexter center Gabe Jackson trimmed the margin to 48-47 with 1:28 remaining.

Notre Dame senior Ross Essner made a pair of free throws with 57 seconds left to pad his the Bulldogs' lead to 51-47. Dexter missed all three field goals it attempted on its next offensive possession, and Notre Dame junior Blake Bauwens followed by knocking down a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left to extend the lead to 53-47.

Dexter cut the deficit to one possession when Pedigo drained his 3-pointer.

Notre Dame led by as much as 21-14 with 6:41 left in the first half before Dexter closed the first half on an 11-1 run and entered halftime with a 25-22 lead.

"I told the guys, 'We cannot coach you right now because we have to coach energy right now,'" Unterreiner said about his halftime talk. "When you have to focus on energy, you don't have time to focus on execution."

Notre Dame trailed by as much as 29-24 with 6:12 left in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to move ahead 32-29 two minutes later and carried a 38-36 lead into the fourth period.

The Bulldogs hit four of its five 3-pointers in the second half.

"We can shoot the ball pretty well," Unterreiner said. "We even had shots our 3-point shooters passed up. They've got to shoot those shots and know those are shots we want them to take. We will live and die by wide open shots anytime."

Bauwens finished in double digits with 10 points.

Four players combined to score all of Dexter's points.

Pedigo and Jackson paced Dexter with 17 points each.

Dexter 10 15 11 14 -- 50

Notre Dame 15 7 16 16 -- 54

DEXTER (50) -- Jason Jarrell 8, Jacob Pedigo 17, Ethan Flowers 8, Gabe Jackson 17. FG 21, FT 5-7, F 15 (3-pointers: Flowers 2, Pedigo. Fouled out: Ryan Mayo.)

NOTRE DAME (54) -- Andrew LeGrand 6, Blake Bauwens 7, Josh Seabaugh 7, Garrett Siebert 6, Winston Welter 6, Dawson Dohogne 8, Carson Ketcher 14. FG 17, FT 15-18, F 15 (3-pointers: LeGrand 2, Siebert 2, Bauwens. Fouled out: None.)