Raiders show growth, see potential for more after splitting final two games in Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball coach Kevin Meyer never saw the absence of two starters as a ready-made excuse for any setback.

He viewed it more as a chance to grow.

Having split two games Wednesday in the small-school bracket of the State Farm Holiday Classic, the Raiders showed considerable growth and the potential for far more.

After opening the day with a 57-45 victory over East Dubuque at the Shirk Center, QND fell in the fifth-place game to Aurora Christian 47-43 at Normal West High School when it lost possession coming out of a timeout with 4.6 seconds remaining in overtime and trailing by two.

“They will remember and they will understand the next time we need to run that sideline out-of-bounds play,” Meyer said. “Now we have experience with what little thing or little quirk didn’t work against Aurora Christian or what gave us the good look against St. Joseph-Ogden. They’re going to remember those things and learn from it.

“It’s a work in progress. But I would rather be where we are today at 7-6 and growing than say we peaked and be worried about what’s going to happen going forward.”

QND played both games without junior guards Jackson Stratton, who was nursing an ankle injury, and Braden Sheffield, who was battling an illness. Yet, the Raiders went on a 9-0 run to close the first quarter against Aurora Christian to take a 13-9 lead.

The Raiders didn’t score again until 30 seconds remained in the first half when Alex Connoyer converted an offensive rebound into points for a 15-12 halftime lead.

The Eagles responded by scoring 21 points in the third quarter, only to have the Raiders tie the game at 40 on a Jake Hoyt layin with a minute to play in regulation. The Eagles’ Jabari Sisco had the chance to give Aurora Christian the lead with five seconds remaining, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Connoyer grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 3.3 seconds left. QND took another timeout in the front court with 1.9 seconds remaining, but couldn’t get a good look off the inbounds play.

In overtime, QND fell behind by as many as five points, but got to within 45-43 with 39.4 seconds remaining. Coming out of a timeout, the Raiders ran the clock to 4.6 seconds before taking another timeout. A turnover forced QND to foul and Aurora Christian’s Calvin Washington made both free throws to seal the victory.

“We had the ball in the right guy’s hands and it just didn’t fall for us,” Meyer said. “We executed the heck out of it the last two nights.”

Connoyer led the Raiders with 12 points, while Hoyt, Charlie Lavery and Jake Wallingford each had eight points.

Against East Dubuque, the Raiders built a 30-16 halftime lead and never relinquished control. Blake Bozarth knocked down four 3-pointers and led QND with 16 points, while Wallingford added 14 points.

“I’m excited about where this team is headed,” Meyer said. “I’m pretty damn proud of these guys.”