Notre Dame slips past Northside Christian

CROWLEY – The Notre Dame Pioneers broke open a tight game in the third quarter and then fended off a late rally to hold on for a 45-43 victory over Northside Christian Monday at Seth Trahan Memorial Gym.
It was the season opener for the Pios, who will take on Teurlings Monday in the opening round of the Chic-fil-a Round Robin in Lafayette.
Northside fell to 3-3 on the season.
“We’re like a light switch,” said Notre Dame coach Donald Adams after the victory. “We played like All Americans in the jamboree last week and tonight, we came out here and had to battle.
“But this is a very good Class C team and we were lucky to get this victory.”
The Warriors jumped out to an early lead and were able to take a slim 17-13 advantage at the break.
And then the light switch flipped on in the third quarter for the Pios.
Brice Brandon and Tyler Simar combined for three 3-pointers midway through the frame and Tre Milstead converted a layup during an 11-0 run by the Pios that gave them a 31-20 advantage with 2:08 remaining in the quarter.
The Warriors added three points, all from the free throw line in the final minutes, but Milstead answered with a pair of layups to give the Pios a 35-23 cushion heading into the final stanza.
“In a game like this, you have to crash the boards and get rebounds and we just didn’t do that tonight,” said NCS coach Glenn Daigle. “We have maybe 17 rebounds tonight when we have been getting 30 plus boards per game.
“In the third quarter, we just couldn’t seem to get anything going; we were getting good looks and we were running the offense like we should, we just couldn’t get anything to fall.”
That all changed for the Warriors in the fourth quarter.
Senior forward Joseph Trahan poured in nine points in the final period and sparked his squad on a 20-9 run to cut the lead to 45-43.
“When we took that lead in the third quarter, that’s when we have to learn to put people away,” said Adams. “You can’t let teams fight their way back in the ballgame.”
The Warriors had a chance to take the lead and possibly win the game, but they missed a pair of free throws with four seconds left.
Notre Dame’s Brett Didier then iced the game with a free throw with three seconds remaining.
Northside was hampered by poor free throw shooting all night. The Warriors shot just 40 percent from the charity stripe, making just 12 of 30 attempts. They missed seven freebies in the fourth quarter alone.
“We put some pressure on them (Notre Dame) and were able to get back in the game, but we just struggled from the free throw line,” said Daigle. “Shooting 40 percent, we just can’t have that.”
Milstead and Brandon paced the Pios with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Hunter Meche added eight points in the paint while Simar and Jacob Leleux each had three. Claiton Johnson and Joe Stringfellow added two points each and Didier finished with one.
Trahan led the Warriors with a 20-point performance. Trace Wilridge added eight points, Zaunbrecher had seven and Ty Wilson scored four. Dylan King and Bradley Ancelet rounded out the scoring with two points each.
The victory was huge for the Pios, who are still without a number of players due to the football playoffs.
“This was good for these kids to get a win because they went through so much last year,” said Adams. “They only won three games last year so it’s a good way to start the season off. But we still have a whole lot of work to do and we have to get a whole lot better.”