Raiders finish perfect opening weekend by easily dispatching Jaguars

QUINCY — Granted, Quincy Notre Dame’s 58-33 boys basketball victory over St. Louis Gateway STEM was not a thing of beauty.

But not every performance in a long high school basketball season can come across as a Rembrandt. Every so often, there’s going to be a MAD Magazine cover show up, too. 

Such was the case Saturday night at The Pit in the final game of the Gully Transportation Shootout.

“I was very pleased with our effort Friday night (a 59-39 win over McCluer), but Saturday night the game was kind of … helter-skelter,” QND coach Kevin Meyer said.

Notre Dame’s dominance was obvious early. Gateway STEM (2-1) was simply no match for a well-disciplined opponent like Notre Dame (2-0).

The numbers, as they say, do not lie. Consider:

• QND led 39-8 at halftime.

• The Raiders outrebounded Gateway STEM 42-17.

• The fourth quarter was played with a running clock. In addition, Notre Dame held the ball for much of the final eight minutes, scoring just three points in the last quarter.

• All of those figures could have been much, much worse if Meyer had not opted to substitute early and often and ordered the Raiders to retreat from attack mode midway through the second half.

On a more positive note, Meyer said the one-sided contest allowed QND to experiment with rotations “and see where guys feel the most comfortable.”

Jackson Stratton’s 16 points led Notre Dame. The 6-foot-2 senior dropped through a team-leading 29 points in the two weekend games and affected Saturday’s contest in a variety of fashions, according to Meyer.

“Stratton made a lot of good decisions,” Meyer said.

Charlie Lavery (11) and Alex Connoyer (10) also scored in double figures for Notre Dame. Connoyer added seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

“Alex helped us control the rebounds and the tempo of the game,” Meyer said.

Josh Bocke led QND rebounders with eight. Lavery collared seven and Aiden Klauser six.

Dwayne Kirkman’s 15-point, five-rebound night was a bright spot for the Jaguars, who had opened its season with one-sided victories over Gateway Science (73-31) and the St. Louis Patriots (71-39).

Meyer said the Raiders are looking forward to their first road trip of the season, a Friday night date at powerhouse Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin. 

“They are the defending (Class) 3A state champions, and they have everyone back,” Meyer said. 

Some of the Sacred Heart-Griffin basketball players, however, have not yet reported to practice. The Cyclones won the Class 4A state football championship Saturday and some of the basketball players were members of that team.