Notre Dame Looks Ahead After Getting Left Behind

The championship game of the Loyola basketball tournament could not have slipped away from Notre Dame High any quicker Saturday night. But Knights’ Coach Mick Cady did not seem terribly concerned.

Notre Dame, you see, plays host to Loyola in a nonleague game Monday, a scant 48 hours after being thoroughly thrashed by the Cubs, 81-64, at Loyola.

“I would hate to have to come back and play them so fast if we’d have blown them out,” Cady said. “I’d think, ‘Oh, God, we have to play them Monday. ‘ “

It is difficult to imagine anyone from Loyola being overly concerned. The Cubs were dominant, outscoring Notre Dame, 14-5, at the start, leading, 39-22, after 2 quarters, and by as many as 23 in the second half.

The tempo, Cady said, was all Loyola’s doing.

“That wasn’t our tempo at all,” Cady said. “We turned the ball over in the first quarter too much. That’s not our tempo, at least not at this point.

“And there were too many points on the scoreboard for us to win. We needed it in the fifties. What we wanted to do was bring it out and keep it to a 12 or 13 point first quarter.”

He had it half right: The Knights scored 11 in each of the first 2 quarters.

Loyola, however, scored 17 in the first and 22 in the second.

Joe Bughardt led the Cubs (5-1) with 20 points, 8 in both the first and third quarters. Three other Loyola players--Wayne Stamps, Ryan Jamison and Jamal Adams, the tournament’s most valuable player--scored in double figures. Brian Jones, with 22 points, led Notre Dame (2-2) in scoring for the third consecutive game of the tournament. Jones and teammate Mike Rimkunas were named to the all-tournament team.

Rimkunas however, was held to 3 points and Jones just 8 in the first half when the game was really decided.