Boys Basketball: Greg Leifel’s shooting propels Notre Dame past Marist

Updated: December 9, 2011 9:45PM

Notre Dame coach Tom Les had seen enough late in the second half against Marist Friday night.

His team was trailing 34-19 and one of his three-point specialists, Greg Leifel, wasn’t taking the open shot. Les let him hear about it and though Leifel didn’t respond to his coaches demands until the third quarter, it turned out to be just in time for the Dons.

Leifel connected on all three of his three-pointers in the third in leading his team to a come-from-behind 75-59 East Suburban Catholic conference win, handing No. 24 Marist its first loss of the season.

“Coach wants me to shoot and I hesitated to shoot in the beginning but in the second half we all came out with a little more confidence,” said Leifel, who finished with 11 points.

Joining the three-point fest in the third and then burying the Redhawks (5-1, 0-1) in the fourth was Justin Halloran. The 6-5 junior hit four of his five 3’s in the second half, including two in a row during a third-quarter ending 9-0 run that put the Dons (7-2, 1-0) up 55-48. A 10-2 run to start the fourth put the Dons in control 65-50.

“It was a game of runs and they are explosive and we started to hit some shots which we haven’t done all year,” said Les, whose team has lost to No. 25 Evanston and No. 1 Simeon. “We’re a young team and I feel to be the best we have to play the best. I feel those games prepared us for this.

“I was upset with (Greg) early, he was open and he kept passing it up. I told him ‘If you aren’t going to shoot I was going to put somebody in who would.’”

Joe Ferrici added 11 points for the Dons. L.J. McIntosh led the Redhawks with 16 points while Matt O’Reilly added 14 and Nic Weishar had 10.

Trailing 13-12 midway through the first quarter, the Redhawks went on a 12-0 run for a 24-13 lead early in the second after a basket by Tyler Oden to start of the second quarter.

The Dons ended the half with a 12-2 run to pull within 34-27 and set up their second half comeback.

“If you don’t play on both ends of the court you are not going to win, especially against a team like Notre Dame,” said Marist coach Gene Nolan, who wasn’t happy with his team’s defense.

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