Raiders slam door shut on Chargers’ rally by holding them scoreless over final three minutes

QUINCY — With a chance to leave zero doubt, the Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball team instead gave its opponent a slither of hope.

It nearly erased the best stretch of basketball the Raiders had played in quite some time. 

“We got complacent,” Raiders junior forward Jackson Connoyer said. “Took our foot off the gas.”

Leading 53-36 through three quarters, QND gave up a 12-2 run to Illini West to start the final period and the advantage shrunk to seven points after Chargers senior guard Tre Neiderman drained a triple to pull the visitors within 55-48 with 3:02 remaining. 

Illini West coach Blaize Kimmell called a timeout immediately following the basket and the Raiders reset. QND scored the game’s final six points and held Illini West scoreless the rest of the way to pull out a 61-48 victory at The Pit on Tuesday night.

“We made some mistakes, and (Illini West) did a great job of knocking their shots down,” QND coach Greg Altmix said. “To be able to come out of that timeout composed and being able to keep them from scoring on the other end, that was big.”

The first half put the Raiders (12-7) in position to make it a one-sided affair. Illini West (16-8) turned the ball over on five of its first six possessions to begin the game and QND built a 20-11 lead after the first eight minutes. The Raiders made eight of their first 11 shots in the second quarter and went to halftime up 36-17. 

“We just came out with a lot of energy, and we stuck to our game plan,” QND junior guard Beau Eftink said. “We executed on our game plan and got easy buckets.”

The Raiders were 16 of 26 (61.5 percent) from the floor in the first 16 minutes and shared the ball as well as they have in one half of play to date.

“I thought our execution on both the offensive and defensive end was solid. It definitely was one of our best halves of the season,” Altmix said. 

Altmix had to adjust his rotation due to the fact the Raiders were shorthanded playing without starting forward Robbie Reed (illness) and key reserve Carter Miller (injury).

“What was nice was when our subs came in, rather than allowing a run like we did against (Chicago) Simeon, it seemed like our subs fit right in and just continued the flow of the offense and defense of the game,” Altmix added. “They did a great job.”

QND had three players finish in double figures, led by Eftink who scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half, while Connoyer added 13 points, and senior guard Alex Dance had 10.

The Raiders also forced 17 turnovers.

Illini West junior forward Wesley Robertson had a game-high 17 points with 11 of those coming in the second half. Neiderman and junior guard Ethan Carlisle pitched in 13 points apiece.

The QND bench outscored its counterparts 11-0.

“I feel like we’re starting to put the pieces together,” Eftink said.

QND’s busy week with three games in five nights took an unexpected turn as Thursday’s game at Western has been postponed due to sickness that has spread through the Wildcats team. That gives the Raiders a few extra days to prepare for Saturday’s trip to Monroe City. The Panthers won last week’s Tony Lenzini Tournament championship and are ranked ninth in Class 3 in this week’s Missouri Basketball Coaches Association state poll.

“If our defense is good and we create turnovers, we can beat just about any team,” Connoyer said. “It’s all about if our energy is high and if we’re being unselfish.”