Boys Basketball: Notre Dame weathers storm, beats Mount Carmel

Not even a big second-half performance by Mount Carmel’s Alex Austin could knock rapidly rebuilt Notre Dame off balance.

While Austin struck for 17 of his game-high 23 points after halftime to help the Caravan on a 12-0 run that tied the game at 39, Notre Dame used four scorers who netted between nine and 15 points to pull out a 55-50 win at Saturday’s Benet Shootout.

“We lost all five starters last year, so on any given night it could be anybody who is leading us in scoring,” Notre Dame coach Tom Les said. “And we have a lot of guys doing stuff that doesn’t show up in the scorebook, and that’s what is making us a good team.”

Joe Ferrici took top scoring honors Saturday with 15 points, highlighted by an eight-point, three-rebound fourth quarter.

Shortly after Matt Mooney (10 points) nailed a three-pointer off an inbounds pass from Donte Stephenson (seven assists) to put Notre Dame (6-1) ahead 42-39 with 5:40 left in the game, Ferrici scored his team’s next six points as the lead grew to 49-43 with 3:50 to go.

Justin Halloran (11 points, including a trio of three-pointers early in the third quarter) and Greg Leifel (nine points) also made big contributions for Notre Dame.

But Austin kept his team close until the end, hitting a tough jumper in traffic and a long three pointer to bring Mount Carmel (2-4) back within 50-48 at the 1:41 mark.

“We’ve said all year that he’s one of the top players in the Chicago area, and for us he’s the best player on the floor every night,” Caravan coach Mike Flaherty said.

Austin’s game included four three-pointers (two in the final quarter), and he added to his 12-point fourth quarter with two steals in that span.

“He made big shots, and big, long shots,” Les said. “And I thought we guarded him pretty good and made him work. He’s a tough kid and a good player.”

But Notre Dame withstood the late Austin-led surge by hitting 5-of-7 free throws the rest of the way.

Sean Prendergast added nine points for Mount Carmel, but his contributions off the bench followed a first half in which the Caravan committed 10 turnovers and shot 7 of 21 from the field to trail 26-18 at the break.

“Unfortunately our ballhandling has kind of betrayed us at times and we were missing easy shots,” Flaherty said. “And right before the half we got confused and they had a wide-open three (by Notre Dame’s Joey Solita at the buzzer). We went with a smaller lineup and came back. The kids did some good things.”

Notre Dame reeled off a 7-0 run to take the lead for good after Mount Carmel had made its 12-point surge into a tie.

“I thought we played pretty well except for that stretch when they went to their zone,” Les said. “But to our credit we hung in there against a quality opponent that’s physical, and it’s a close game which is good for us moving forward.”

Next up is the huge challenge of nationally-ranked Public League powerhouse Simeon Sunday at Thornton.

“Every game we grow a little bit more,” Les said, “and now we’ll find out how much we’ve grown tomorrow against Simeon.”

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