Elba lost three games last season, all to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish extended that streak with a 73-30 victory on Tuesday night.
The Lancers jumped out to an early 12-3 lead, and Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Rapone had seen enough. Coming out of the timeout, the Irish would end the first quarter on a 19-0 run and never looked back.
“I told them we had to pick it up defensively,” said Rapone. “Then we hit a few shots, the momentum swung and we started to take away the inside passing lanes. That was the difference.”
Notre Dame’s run was sparked by the three-point shot, connecting on six in the first quarter, four of them coming from Tommy Prospero. The senior would finish with a game-high 21 points on 7 three-pointers. As a team, the Irish torched Elba’s 2-3 zone, connecting on 10 field goals behind the arc.
“When teams play a zone against us, we are going to take threes,” said Rapone. “We have three really great perimeter shooters, and we don’t have a strong inside presence so if we go up against a zone we are going to take threes.”
Tim McCulley had a superb all-around game, scoring 14 points on 7-for-12 shooting while grabbing 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks and a thunderous right-handed dunk to cap the night. Prospero also added 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals to go with his 21 points. Senior Jared Thornton also added 12 points for Notre Dame (2-0).
Turnovers were the Achilles heel for the Lancers, coughing up the ball 29 times throughout the game, while also going 0-for-8 on three-point shots and only shooting 30-percent from the field overall.
Nate Jonathan did have a stellar contest, scoring a team-high 9 points and grabbing a game-high 8 rebounds for Elba (0-2).
