Boys Basketball: Notre Dame continues solid run, downs Brother Rice

Updated: January 10, 2012 10:11PM

With an 11-4 record coming into Tuesday’s nonconference game at Brother Rice, Notre Dame has clearly been playing some solid basketball.

But with the Dons’ convincing 63-44 win on the road, coach Tom Les saw a squad he hadn’t seen in several weeks; a more aggressive squad.

“Today we were so much more aggressive than we have been in the last month or so,” Les said. “We started off the season playing pretty hard, but we haven’t played this well in a little bit.”

Matt Mooney led Notre Dame (12-4) with 17 points, 13 coming in the second half. Six players scored at least six points each for the Dons while five players pulled down at least five rebounds each in helping overpower Rice inside.

Alex Majewski had 19 points and eight rebounds for Brother Rice (10-5).

It was Majewski’s free throw with 1:36 left in the third quarter that brought the Crusaders to within seven points at 35-28, but the Dons closed the quarter on a 7-0 run.

Joe Ferrici (nine points, five rebounds) scored on a give-and-go from Mooney and then added a three-point play. Mooney scored on a backdoor cut on an inbounds play to cap the run. Notre Dame outscored Rice 18-10 in the third, limiting the Crusaders offensively to one shot each time up the court.

“We had a great third quarter defensively,” Les said. “We contested and made them take tough shots. It was one and done offensively.”

A Rice charge in the fourth cut the lead to 12 points following a Cal Kennedy bucket, but the Crusaders got no closer.

“We weren’t moving the ball well, and we couldn’t get open shots,” Brother Rice coach Pat Richardson said. “We used to have a pretty good offense here. We used to run motion. We used to cut, screen and reverse the ball. We don’t do anything. We just stare at the ball.”

Brother Rice finished with 18 turnovers and shot just 5 of 20 from three-point range.

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