By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Ryan Stuckman made sure his team never trailed Saturday night at The Pit.

The Quincy Notre Dame junior scored the game's first eight points -- making his first three field goals -- as the Raiders topped Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 69-52.

The win is the Raiders' first againsta Class 3A regional foe. Third-seeded QND lost to No. 2 Springfield at the State Farm Holiday Classic and at No. 4 Jacksonville earlier this season. SHG is seeded last in the five-team regional, which starts next Monday at The Bowl in Jacksonville.

If QND can win its regular-season finale against Normal U-High at 5 p.m. Saturday at The Pit, the Raiders can enter the postseason with a four-game winning streak.

Stuckman, who finished with 11 points, made a field goal and followed that with back-to-back 3-pointers to give QND an 8-0 lead 2 minutes, 11 seconds into the game. He also scored another basket later in the quarter.

"We're going to play some great teams in the postseason and if we get down early it's going to be really hard for us to win those games," Stuckman said.

SHG made a pair of free throws with 4:41 left in the opening quarter and made its first field goal with 4:10 remaining.

QND (15-10) entered the second quarter leading 18-8.

Back-to-back Matt Welding baskets midway through the second quarter gave QND a double digit lead for the rest of the game.

"We came out with a good mindset tonight," QND senior Nathan Lunt said. "We realize this is a regional team, the type of team that we're going to have to beat once we get to our regional. So we had to make a statement. We came out, did things right and got the job done."

The 6-foot-3 center recorded his first double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 14 points and 11 rebounds. It is the third time this season Lunt has scored in double figures.

"I was just crashing as hard as I could," Lunt said. "I knew there was going to be a lot of shots going up. I was just looking for the opportunities to hit it and get the rebound."

The Raiders entered halftime with a 38-20 lead. They added to it by starting the third quarter scoring 9 of the first 11 points.

"When you have opportunities to extend the lead you need to do that," QND coach Scott Douglas said. "I thought tonight we did a much better job."

SHG was led by Adrian Cave's 12 points. Cave, who averages 16 points per game, entered the fourth quarter with eight points. Jake Darnell guarded Cave for most of the first three quarters.

"(Cave's) a pretty darn good player," Douglas said. "I thought (Darnell) handled him well."

Note: QND senior Tim Bearden ended the third quarter by taking an inbound pass three-quarters of the court away with 3.9 seconds left and made a running basket as time expired. That gave the Raiders a 55-27 lead entering the fourth quarter.

-- mgoldberg@whig.com/221-3367