Raiders will face Central in today's title game

By JARED BELL

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Apparently the Quincy Notre Dame basketball team didn't get enough to eat on Thanksgiving because its defense feasted against Western Friday night.

For the third straight game, the Raiders' used a blitzkrieg attack and rode a lightning-fast start to an easy 68-41 win in the 27th annual Gully Transportation Tip-Off Tournament.

"We did a lot of things right tonight," QND coach Scott Douglas said. "I thought our pressure was really good. That's something that has been there all three nights, but I thought it was, maybe, exceptional tonight."

QND's long arms and pressing attack forced four Western turnovers on the Wildcats' first four possessions. Western finished with 10 turnovers in the first quarter and 28 in the game.

"We had a pretty good game plan early on, but the kids just got frazzled once they started getting pressure in their face," Western coach Marty Hull said. "We were going to get the ball in and let everybody clear out, but we just got in too big of a hurry early and that led the to the layups early."

The quick starts are becoming a trend in the tournament for the Raiders, who have scored more first-quarter points in all three games (29, 20, 19) than they've allowed in all three games combined (17 total).

"We just try to play as a team and work hard on defense and offense," said QND's Anthony Bruns, who finished with a game-high 15 points. "We try to be on the same page. In practice, Coach Douglas just reiterates that as much as he can, that we're all on the same page."

With the victory, QND will play host to Central at 8 tonight in the championship crossover with the Suns Classic. Western will meet West Hancock at 6:30 p.m.

"We're just going to try to keep playing like we're playing," Douglas said. "I think that's suits us best, and we'll see what they bring to the table. I know they do a number of different things."

The Raiders jumped to an 11-2 lead midway through the first quarter and took a 19-7 advantage after the first eight minutes.

QND's 20-point second quarter -- its largest scoring quarter -- pushed the halftime advantage to 39-21.

"I thought we geared down just a shade on offense tonight," Douglas said. "We played with a little more purpose tonight than we played with Tuesday night, and I think that accounted for a lot of our success offensively."

The Raiders kept rolling in the second half, outscoring Western 39-20 as its rotated in most of their players.

"Their second five is just as good as their first five. They don't lose anything at all," Hull said. "They can afford to get into foul trouble where I can't because if they get a kid with three or four fouls, (coach Douglas) can just sub in another body that's just as good."

In addition to Bruns 15 points, 11 of the 13 Raiders that saw action score, with Kramer Barnes and Brennan Rakers each contributing nine.

"All 13 guys that we have, I trust them to play as hard as anybody else and be just as good," Bruns said. "And that's good in the long run knowing that we have that many guys that can go out there and play."

n Earlier in the evening, Highland hung on for its first victory of the season, a 47-46 win over Kirksville.

Kirksville rallied from a 34-18 deficit early in the third quarter to tie the score at 42 when Trevor Allinson converted on a three-point play with 3:28 left. Highland regained the lead on back-to-back baskets by Michael Scoggin and Blake Lahr.

Dallas Job led the Cougars with 16 points, while Adam Morrall added nine rebounds.

With the win, Highland will face Southeastern at 5 p.m. tonight, while Kirksville meets Unity at 3:30 p.m.

--jbell@whig.com/221-3367