Prior to opening tip-off, Notre Dame’s Tim McCulley jokingly rubbed his hands together as if to say he was going to “make it rain.”
It must have worked, because it rained in buckets for McCulley, as he poured in a career-high 37 points en route to a 79-59 victory over Oakfield-Alabama.
The Notre Dame senior may be as a hot as any player in Section V at the moment, as he used this as an encore performance after a 35-point game against Prattsburgh on Saturday.
“Tim is in a groove right now,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Rapone. “The great thing about him is that he does more than score. He finds the open man and gets his teammates involved.”
McCulley not only knocked down seven three-point field goals, but he added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals on the night.
After tonight’s explosion, McCulley sits just nine points shy of 1,000 for his career.
The game started as a shootout, with the Hornets only trailing by two after the first quarter, due in large part to their efficiency behind the arc.
“They came out hot in the first quarter,” Rapone said. “We made some adjustments defensively, and give Ryan [Stehlar] credit. They were ready and he had them in the right spots.”
With the game tied 27-27 midway through the second quarter, the Irish came alive, using a 19-4 run to end the first half and pull away for good.
One of the key reasons for the Notre Dame offensive explosion was junior Josh Johnson.
Johnson finished the night with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals.
“Josh played well tonight,” Rapone said. “He has really improved throughout the season and has been much more selective with the ball.”
Despite the loss, the Hornets had a superb night shooting the ball. They knocked down a total of 11 three-pointers on the evening, getting seven from Hunter Spiotta.
Spiotta finished the game with 27 points and four rebounds, while Ryan Emery chipped in 11 points for Oakfield-Alabama (8-6).
Senior Alex Domkowski had another strong outing, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds for Notre Dame (11-3).
