Menu
Pressure defense stymies Hawks
CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Notre Dame Bulldogs imposed their style of play on Kelly and that was bad news for the Hawks.
Kelly's inability to handle Notre Dame's tenacious full- and half-court pressure opened an early deficit from which the Hawks never recovered in a 74-50 loss on Tuesday at Notre Dame Regional High School.
"We want it to be a helter-skelter game," said Notre Dame coach Paul Hale. "We live by it (pressure defense) and, sooner or later, we're going to have a spurt and make a few steals and that's what happened tonight."
One early spurt, led by senior guards Frankie Ellis and Xavier Delph, propelled Notre Dame (16-2), ranked sixth in the Class 4 state poll, to a 17-3 first-
quarter lead.
"Those two guys in front (Ellis and Delph) are really quick, as quick a pair of guards as there is, and we play it (press) everyday. If we don't press, we don't play very good."
Kelly (12-6) committed seven of its game total 27 turnovers in the first quarter as the Bulldogs held the Hawks scoreless for the first 4:28. Kelly's next score didn't come until about 40 seconds were left in the period.
"They've got some kids that can flat get after you and we didn't handle it well," said Kelly coach Cory Johnson. "When the referees are calling it as loosely as they were tonight, letting you get some hands on each other, that plays into their favor, too."
Even though 42 fouls were whistled, much hand- and body-checking was allowed in the physical ballgame. Notre Dame was called for 23 fouls while the Hawks drew 19.
Despite falling into the early hole, the Hawks hung tough, outscoring the Bulldogs 17-11 in the second period, to creep within 28-20 at halftime.
"The thing I can say about my kids is they're battlers," said Johnson. "They're going to work and keep at you, no matter what the score is."
Said Hale, "Kelly played super defense inside. We just couldn't score."
After falling behind 37-23 early in the third quarter, a 6-0 Kelly run closed the gap to 37-29 midway of the period before a momentum-killing string of five consecutive turnovers.
"At some point, we're going to get back-to-back steals or two or three steals in a row and break the game open," said Hale.
Notre Dame finished the quarter strong for a 49-34 lead going into the final period, then outscored the Hawks 25-16 in the fourth quarter.
"The main thing that I saw is we had opportunities," said Johnson. "We had an opportunity to cut it to four a couple of different times in the first half and we had an opportunity again early in the second half that we didn't capitalize on because of turnovers or second shots that we allowed them to have.
"Against a good team like Notre Dame, as well coached as they are, you can't do that."
Kelly's 6-foot-3 junior post Spencer Ayers paced the Hawks' offense with a game-high 20 points. No other Hawk finished in double digits.
Notre Dame placed four in double figures, topped by 6-6 sophomore Ryan Willen. Ellis scored 13, Delph and Alex Ressel added 12.
"We ran up against a wall tonight, a very good Notre Dame team," said Johnson. "We've just got to look at the game tapes, learn from this, prepare for a good Sikeston team and get better."
Kelly meets Sikeston on Friday at the Sikeston Field House at 6 p.m. for junior varsity and varsity contests.
Kelly's JV lost to Notre Dame 55-23 in last night's preliminary game.