Boys Basketball: St. Pat’s bests Notre Dame in ESCC shocker

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1/13/12. Niles. Notre Dame's Joe Ferrici elevates over Loyola's Peter Pujals for the shot. Loyola took on Notre Dame at Notre Dame High School. | Tracy Allen~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:08AM

Royale Ewing dropped in a season-best 19 points and the rest of the team added some stellar fourth quarter defense, as St. Patrick pulled off a 54-46 road upset over rival Notre Dame in the East Suburban Catholic on Friday night in Niles.

Ismar Seferagic added 12 points and 13 rebounds and Parish McCullum chipped in 10 points and six boards for the Shamrocks (8-7, 2-2).

“To see us react on the road in a arch-rival’s gym with the poise that we played on both ends of the floor,” said St. Patrick coach Mike Bailey, whose team has lost six games by four points or less. “Really, in the fourth quarter and down the stretch, it says a lot for our guys.”

St. Patrick put together a 20-6 run for a six-minute stretch in the fourth for a 50-41 advantage and erased a 35-30 deficit after three quarters, with a lot of credit going to its defense.

“It all starts with our defense,” Bailey said. “We defended well and we were more solid in the fourth quarter. We did a much better job getting to (Notre Dame’s) three-point shooters in the final quarter.”

Ewing scored 13 points in the final quarter and 17 of his 19 in the second half.

“I just wanted to come in and attack,” said Ewing, who was bothered by foul trouble in the first half. “I just wanted to put the team on my back to get the win. We needed to get this one.”

Notre Dame (14-5, 2-1) suffered its first loss in the ESCC.

The Dons had pulled away from St. Patrick late in the third quarter with the help of Justin Halloran hitting one of his three treys of a game-high 11 points for the five-point lead.

However, the fourth quarter the same looks were not there down the stretch for the Dons.

“St. Patrick took it to us and played awfully well,” Notre Dame coach Tom Les said, “(St. Patrick) made shots when they had to and made free throws down the stretch.

“They played good defense against us. We didn’t execute that well, because they were the ones who played well.”