Home, sweet home: Raiders return to The Pit for first time in nearly four weeks, steamroll Saukees

QUINCY — The fact the Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball team hadn’t played on its home floor in nearly a month wasn’t lost on the Raiders.

“It’s been a while,” QND senior guard Alex Dance said. 

It had been 26 days as a matter of fact.

“Felt good to be back,” Dance said.

Playing at The Pit for the first time since a victory over Camp Point Central on Dec. 20, QND used a balanced scoring attack to take down Pittsfield 69-40 on Wednesday night.

“They’re not worried about their points. They’re wanting to win a ball game,” Raiders coach Greg Altmix said of his team. “They’re getting to that point of trusting one another and getting guys the ball at the right time, in the right spots.”

QND (9-5) had seven different players score in every quarter other than the fourth. At that point the Raiders had invoked a running clock.

“Getting everybody involved is a pretty big emphasis for us,” QND junior forward Robbie Reed said. “That’s how our team grows together and that’s how we get better.”    

Reed led all scorers with 21 points, including 17 in the second and third quarters combined. Reed has shown continued improvement since breaking into the starting lineup.

“You’ve got to have a passion to do something or else you’re not going to be successful. Robbie’s got that passion. He’s got that fire,” Altmix said. “As big and athletic as he is, you put the passion inside of him, now it’s just a matter of continuing to learn the game and continuing to improve his individual skills. I think he’s got a high ceiling.”

QND used its size advantage on the offensive glass by getting second and third opportunities, and sometimes fourth chances, seemingly all night long.

“All week at practice, it’s just been different. We’ve had a lot more energy, a lot more into it,” said Dance, who finished with seven points. “Everyone’s been more passionate. That’s how we came out and played today.”

Pittsfield (6-9) had trouble handling QND’s full court defensive pressure which enabled QND to turn the Saukees over and led to easy baskets in transition.

“We played smarter tonight. We played harder,” Altmix said. “We understood where we didn’t want them to get the ball and we did a good job of keeping the ball out of the middle. We did a good job of trapping and guys going to spots.”

The Raiders jumped out to a 19-8 lead after the first quarter and the advantage ballooned to 41-16 by halftime.

The mid-week affair was originally scheduled for last week but was postponed due to the fact Pittsfield canceled school on Friday. It gave the Raiders a few extra days of preparation. The Saukees were playing for the second consecutive night after defeating Rushville-Industry 53-43 on Tuesday.

“We’ve been emphasizing that it’s Pittsfield week,” Reed said. “We got to come out here and go because they’re going to go, too.”

Ten different Raiders got in the scoring column, including Jackson Connoyer, who had nine points, and Jackson Pyatt and Jace Allensworth, who added eight points apiece.

Hayden Gratton led Pittsfield with 17 points and Taylor Graham had 10. The Saukees only had four players score.

The Raiders head to Bloomington this weekend for two games at the Bloomington Central Catholic Shootout. QND will face Tolono Unity at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and Normal U-High at noon Monday before returning to The Pit to square off against perennial power Chicago Simeon in the Quincy Shootout on Jan. 24.

“Hopefully with continuing to be successful, we can get some more people in the stands,” Altmix said. “Get people to come out to see what these guys are capable of doing.”