After winning final game at holiday tourney, Raiders ready for rest to fight off flus and colds

December 29, 2024 | By Muddy River Sports

Quincy Notre Dame's Carter Miller tries to dribble to the basket past North Lawndale's Nicario Knox during Saturday night's game in the boys small school bracket of the State Farm Holiday Classic at Bloomington High School. | David Adam photo

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — When all was said and done, the Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball players wanted to go home.

“So we kicked it in gear and got home,” Raiders coach Greg Altmix said.

The need for rest and recuperation is why.

QND finished its stay at the State Farm Holiday Classic with Saturday night’s 57-40 victory over North Lawndale, sending the Raiders home with a 2-1 record at the Christmas event and saw much-needed momentum with a challenging three-week stretch ahead.

First and foremost, the Raiders need to get healthy.

A run of flu-like symptoms impacted the Raiders (8-4) with at least one player vomiting during the day Saturday and others fighting exhaustion, congestion and body aches.

“I couldn’t be any more proud of the guys,” Altmix said. “We’re waiting for someone to cough up a lung the ways things were going, and yet, in their third game in three days, they found the energy to get the job done.

“We told them, ‘Just go out and play hard and do what you can because you’re going to feel the same way no matter what you’re doing.’ They just went out and played.”

Altmix made some adjustments to accommodate his ailing crew. The Raiders didn’t employ any full-court pressure, opting instead to play a zone defense and forcing the Phoenix to try to beat them from the perimeter.

“They guys were talking about what we were going to run,” Altmix said. “I was like, ‘Just run. Go run and score. Run and get a good shot.’ We ran some set pieces coming out of the timeouts, but we let them just run. It worked well.”

QND led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter before holding North Lawndale to 12 points in the second and third quarters combined. That enabled the Raiders to push the lead to 43-28 heading to the fourth quarter.

Jace Allensworth led the Raiders with 15 points, while Jackson Connoyer added 10.

“They are getting three of the next four days off, and I’m not sure I might give them four of four days off,” Altmix said. “They just need to get feeling better.”