SUN VALLEY — The Notre Dame boys basketball team came into Tuesday’s game looking to make a statement against another top team in the San Fernando Valley.
The Knights, ranked No. 2 in the area by the Daily News, were able to do just that, as they rolled to a 90-49 win over No. 4 Village Christian.
“We all played great. We all wanted to send out a message to everyone else that we can really hoop,” Notre Dame senior guard Zach White said. “We wanted to make a statement after the loss we had on Saturday.”
Notre Dame (6-2) lost to to Millenium of Arizona, 62-60, this past Saturday.
White, a San Diego State commit, had 24 points and four rebounds. NaVorro Bowman Jr. had 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for the Knights.
“We executed our game plan really well, we were coming off a tough loss,” Notre Dame coach Matt Sargeant said. “This team’s got great chemistry. In a game like that, you can really see the connection those two (White and Bowman Jr.) and the rest of the team have.”
Notre Dame did a great job in the game defensively against a Village Christian team that had been scoring 82 points a game this season.
Sargeant noted that Knights switched up their defensive coverage between man, zone and press to try to make it as difficult as possible for Village Christian (6-2).
“In our last game a lot of the little things defensively led us to that loss,” Bowman Jr. said. “I feel like us talking, using our length and having our hands out led to us working as one defensively tonight.”
Notre Dame outscored Village Christian 49-22 in the second half. Notre Dame also held the Crusaders to nine points in the fourth quarter.
The Crusaders’ backcourt, and their two leading scorers, struggled a bit with the height advantage the Notre Dame guards had over them.
Village Christian freshman guard Will Conroy had 15 points. Conroy’s running mate in the back court, Deion Lewis, had 11 points and four assists.
“We just wanted to do everything we could do to make it difficult and confusing for them,” Sargeant said of Conroy and Lewis. “Those two are very good high school basketball players.”
Sophomore guard Zion Lanier had 16 points for Notre Dame. Ilan Nikolov had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Knights.
Notre Dame’s next game is Dec. 18 in the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas against Riviera Prep of Florida. Village Christian will look to bounce back Friday at Santa Margarita.