Notre Dame Of Fairfield Falls To Undefeated Kolbe-Cathedral

As if the Notre Dame of Fairfield boys basketball team needed any more adversity after Tre McPherson and Marcus Blackwell were dismissed from the team last week, the Lancers played Monday's game against Kolbe Cathedral without two additional players who were sidelined due to injuries.

That forced coach Vin Laczkoski to play four freshmen, and the inexperience showed as the Lancers suffered a 59-42 loss to the undefeated Cougars at Sacred Heart's Pitt Center.

From the start, Notre Dame had trouble handling Kolbe Cathedral's pressure defense. The Cougars never trailed after Rob Pinnock scored the game's first seven points to stake his team to a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

Laczkoski started two freshmen - C.J. Davidson and Donte Peeler. Davidson and another ninth-grader -- Jake Heaton - ended up leading the Lancers with 11 points apiece.

Kolbe Cathedral improved to 8-0 while Notre Dame dropped to 5-4.

"We tried hard," Laczkoski said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have enough in us today. We had spurts where we got back in the game, but unfortunately I think we had a lot of mental errors. That had a lot to do with Kolbe. They did a great job taking us out of a lot of the things we like to do."

After the Cougars extended their lead to 13-5 on D.J. Perry's reverse layup, the Lancers closed within 15-14 on a four-point play by Heaton with 1:05 left in the first period.

But Perry took over in the second quarter, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 11 of his game-high 24 points to give the Cougars a 34-23 halftime.

Notre Dame had closed within 27-23 on Dan Upchurch's runner in the lane with 2:33 left in the second quarter, but the Cougars ended the half with a 7-0 spurt.

In the earlier meeting between the teams, Kolbe Cathedral pulled out a 52-51 victory as two evenly-matched teams battled back and fourth.

But as the Cougars slowly pulled away Tuesday, the absence of McPherson, Notre Dame's point guard, was clearly evident.

"They have a couple guys missing that are crucial pieces to their team," Cougars coach Chris Smith said. "Tre can score, he can drive and he's their point guard. That's a big blow for any school."

The Lancers started the second half as if they were going to climb back into the game as a steal and breakaway layup by Davidson pulled Notre Dame within 34-27.

But the Lancers had trouble making shots, and the Cougars quickly got the lead into double figures. Shaquille Thomas' tip-in gave Kolbe Cathedral a 46-30 cushion after the third period.

Thomas and Pinnock each finished with nine points for the Cougars.

While defending champion Notre Dame was considered the preseason favorite in the South-West Conference, Laczkoski admits that right now Kolbe Cathedral is the best team in the league.

And far as the Lancers are concerned, they can't do anything except keep plugging through the adversity.

"It's been a long two weeks with some of the stuff that went on, but you have to deal with it as a coach and try to get through it," Laczkoski said.

Notre Dame is now off until it plays at Weston next Tuesday. The break may be coming at a good time for the Lancers, who have dropped four of their last five games.