Rock Bridge beat Quincy Notre Dame 60-29 on Friday night at Rock Bridge. However, the score of the game at halftime was 27-20 Rock Bridge. The Bruins held Quincy Notre Dame to two points in the third quarter and nine points in the second half.
Rock Bridge senior guard Eric Darkow used his 6-foot-6 size and long reach to pester Quincy Notre Dame on the perimeter. Darkow was playing the top man in a 3-2 zone that Rock Bridge perfected in the second half to help pressure the Raiders into missed shots.
“The defining moment in the second half was when they passed the ball around and couldn’t find an open shot,” Darkow said. “They were so frustrated that they had to call a time out.”
Senior guard Logan Gray said, “We got them to stop making shots. Our defense let them score in the first half.”
Rock Bridge’s frustrating defense, coupled with Quincy Notre Dame’s overzealous crashing of the boards, led to a flurry of fast-break points for the Bruins, both in layups and open outside jump shots. The transition game helped pad the Bruins’lead, which Darkow led with 17 points.
“I don’t even think we called that many plays in the second half,” Darkow said.
The Bruins started off slowly in the first half because of foul trouble and because the Raiders controlled the tempo of the game. Quincy Notre Dame was able to contain the game in half court possesions in the first half by making their shots and by playing a ball-hawking defense. The Raiders also started off shooting well, and forward Ryan Stuckman and guard Devon Frericks led the them in scoring with 14 points.
The momentum shifted on the first play of the second half. Rock Bridge inbounded the ball without all of the Quincy Notre Dame players on the right side of the court. After Rock Bridge scored an easy layup on that play and hit a few more shots, Quincy Notre Dame coach Scott Douglas was called for a technical foul after arguing with the referees.
“We thought that there was an extended half time, and they inbounded the ball. I do think that affected our kids,” Douglas said.
After the two technical free throws, Rock Bridge was up by 11 and never trailed the rest of the game.
“At some point, we lost our will,” Douglas said. “If we would have kept it close, at like eight or nine, we might have had a shot, but suddenly we were down 20. We really didn’t play well and they played excellent.”
Rock Bridge is 19-2 and is looking forward to the end of the season.
“We’re looking forward to the games that count, but we still have two games left,” Gray said.