High School Basketball : Notre Dame Posts Upset Over St. Paul

Senior guard Brian Jones had 24 points and forward Kurt Gilsenan added 16 to lead Notre Dame High to an upset 62-59 victory over St. Paul on Wednesday in the first round of the Loyola tournament.

Notre Dame (1-1) trailed the top-ranked team in the Southern Section 3-A Division by as many as 8 points throughout the second and third quarters before a fourth-quarter charge. The Knight rally was led by the 4-for-4 shooting of Gilsenan and 7 free throws by Paul Hewitt.

After many lead changes, the Knights went ahead for good, reeling off an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 58-49 lead.

Notre Dame was forced to play without the services of 3 players, including starting guard Ken Hicks, who sprained an ankle in the Knights’ opener. Notre Dame Coach Mick Cady expects Hicks to miss 1 to 3 weeks.

Jones more than filled the void left by Hicks’ absence, making 7 of 11 shots from the field and 10 of 14 free throws.

“I had to pick up the slack and play smart,” Jones said. “Since they were a top team, that really fired us up.”

St. Paul (2-1) was not able to take advantage of its normally up-tempo offense; last season the Swordsmen averaged 93 points a game.

Notre Dame will face Pius X in the semifinals at 6:30 tonight.