Pyatt’s suffocating defense helps QND boys pull away in fourth quarter from pesky Payson Seymour

QUINCY —Jackson Pyatt didn’t flinch when his number was called.

After watching Blake Schwartz, Payson Seymour’s top player, torch the Quincy Notre Dame defense for 18 points through the first three quarters, Pyatt had one job in the final eight minutes.

“The goal was just make sure (Schwartz) doesn’t score,” Pyatt said.

Consider it mission accomplished.

Pyatt, and the Raiders’ defense, held Schwartz without a point in the fourth quarter as QND escaped Payson Seymour’s upset bid in pulling out a 71-62 victory on Friday night at The Pit.

“Jackson is a physical, aggressive player, and I think he could be one of the best defenders in the area if he wants to buy into it,” QND coach Greg Altmix said. “I thought he bought into it in the fourth quarter.”

Even with Pyatt’s defense, work still had to be done in the waning minutes of the game.

After struggling for most of the contest from the free throw line, QND (3-0) made eight out of nine attempts from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the deal. Beau Eftink and Jackson Connoyer combined to go six for six in the critical moments.

“We practice that every day,” Eftink said. “We just wait for those moments.”

The Raiders missed 11 of 23 free throws through the first 24 minutes.

“They’re free, so you got to take advantage of them,” Altmix said. “When you don’t, it contributes to what type of game this was.”

Payson Seymour (1-3) kept the contest close thanks to torrid shooting from beyond the arc. The Indians made 11 3-point field goals, including four in the fourth quarter. They knocked down half (11 of 22) of their 3-point shots during the game.

“We have Blake and Lane (Barker), who I consider two of the best shooters in the state,” Payson Seymour coach Tyler Duschinsky said. “Nolan (Sparks) can make a shot, Brodie (Dieker) can make a shot, and now all of a sudden, we bring Landon (Gooding) off the bench, who’s a sophomore who can make a couple shots, I think that only helps our depth.”

Altmix says perimeter defense needs to improve.

“We’re just getting caught ball watching too often,” he said. “Then by the time we realize the guy’s going out for the three, we can’t get around the screen. I think that’ll be a quick fix where we’re getting in the habit of being able to see both ball and man. We’ll be able to get that corrected.”

The first half was nip and tuck. The Raiders led 18-13 after the first quarter but trailed by two at halftime thanks to Sparks, who hit a runner in the lane to give the Indians a 31-29 advantage. 

QND couldn’t find separation until an early fourth-quarter sequence when Payson Seymour, saddled with foul trouble, tried to slow things down with a zone defense. The Raiders held the ball, forcing the Indians to go man-to-man, and Connoyer beat his defender off the dribble for a layup. Seconds later, Pyatt forced a turnover in the backcourt, which led to Alex Dance making an open 3-pointer from the baseline to give the Raiders a 57-48 lead.

“We realized that they were just sagging down, and they didn’t really want to come out (of the zone), so we just sat there at the top by the half-court line and just waited for them to come out,” Eftink said. “Once they came out, we kind of exposed them and got easy buckets.”

QND’s Jace Allensworth had 10 of his 15 points in the first four minutes of the third quarter but tweaked a hamstring and sat out most of the second half.

“This early in the season, we’re going to err on the side of caution,” Altmix said. “What we don’t want to do is put him (back) in, have him aggravate it and then lose him for four to six weeks.”

Allensworth’s availability for Saturday’s home tilt with Macomb remains unclear.

“We’ll see how he feels (Saturday),” Altmix said.

Connoyer also scored 15 points while Eftink pitched in 13 points to pace the Raiders. Barker contributed 15 points for the Indians, and Gooding had 11 off the bench.

“Being able to come into a difficult environment with the student section on top of you and hootin’ and hollerin’ and getting on you, to be able to do that in December is especially important, because you’re going to be able to handle that pressure moving forward,” said Duschinsky, whose team visits state-ranked West Hancock on Saturday. “There’s going to be very few places where we’re going to see what we saw tonight.”