Lundberg’s sizzling shooting helps Palmyra boys gain separation, pull away from QND

PALMYRA, Mo. — Granted, the Palmyra boys basketball team sits undefeated following a convincing 55-34 victory Tuesday night over Quincy Notre Dame.

But Jon Lundberg feels Palmyra has barely scratched the surface of what it might accomplish between now and the end of the season.

“I can feel it all coming together. I can sense the chemistry building,” said Lundberg, a senior guard who led all scorers with 17 points, a total that was accented by five 3-point field goals.

Palmyra, fresh off a championship in the 98th annual Monroe City tournament last Saturday, controlled the flow for much of the game. The Panthers were especially convincing in the second half when they limited QND to 13 points.

Palmyra coach Brian Rea said he can both sense and see the Panthers “growing game by game.”

“We’re trying to get our guys to play in the moment, to try and win every possession,” said Rea, whose club turned an eight-point halftime lead into a 16-point edge going to the fourth quarter. “We just want to stay positive.”

Lundberg’s touch from beyond the stripe helped key the separation.

“I was very hot (during the game), but not in warmups,” Lundberg said. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when the game started.”

What happened for Lundberg was whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh in the first half. He capped his night with a final whoosh in the fourth quarter before Rea pulled the starters in what had become a one-sided contest.

“(Lundberg) is a shooter, and he’s shooting with confidence,” Rea said. “He’s playing with ice water in his veins.”

QND coach Kevin Meyer praised Lundberg, too.

“Kudos to him,” said Meyer, whose team dropped to 4-2. “He stepped up and knocked down five (3-pointers) against us.”

Meyer also praised Palmyra as a whole.

“They really executed,” he said. “Brian had them ready to play. I still thought, though, we had a good chance to come back in the second half, being down just 29-21 at halftime … but we couldn’t take advantage of any of the defensive stops we had.”

The only other double-figure scorer in the game was Palmyra’s Carson Hicks with 13 points. Hicks sat out much of the first half with foul issues, but rebounded with a solid nine combined points in the third and fourth quarters.

Bear Bock was his usual self on the boards for Palmyra, finishing a game-best 13 rebounds, plus a couple of blocked shots. Bock also scored eight points.

Alex Connoyer (9) and Jackson Stratton (8) led Notre Dame in scoring.