Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – First-year West Branch head coach Kaleb Duwa warned his team that Burlington Notre Dame would come out swinging on Monday night.

The Nikes did just that.

Duwa implored his team to keep battling.

The Bears did.

It just wasn’t enough to overcome an early deficit and some hot shooting from Burlington Notre Dame.

Burlington Notre Dame bolted to an early 18-9 lead and held off West Branch for a 72-54 win in a non-conference contest in West Branch.

“Offensively we didn’t have it tonight,” Duwa said. “They came out right away and hit a couple of shots and we knew they were going to throw punches early and we kind of talked about that but I was proud of our guys for continuing to fight.”

Western Illinois recruit Shay Stephens scored a game-high 31 points and Burlington Notre Dame shot 51 percent from the field while improving to 3-0 on the season.

The Nikes got 13 points from Eli Oleson and 10 from L.J. Harris in the win.

Lincoln Naber had 14 points to lead three West Branch players in double figures as the Bears dropped to 1-1 on the season.

Griffin Kies hit two first-quarter 3-pointers as the Nikes opened up an early 18-9 lead after the opening quarter.

Stephens had seven of his game-high 31 in the second quarter as Burlington Notre Dame pushed the margin to 36-21 at the half.

West Branch wouldn’t go away but the Bears couldn’t get the deficit under double digits the rest of the game.

“They hit shots early and we got down but we didn’t panic,” Duwa said. “I think having the games they’d play helped them, we don’t have to be at our best right now we have to keep building. Offensively we are going to continue to get better.”

Naber made all six of his field goal attempts on his way to 14 points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds for West Branch.

Brandon Pedersen had 12 points and Brennen Dale added 10 for West Branch.

“I was proud of them the way they battled,” Duwa said. “I thought Jayden Harris, Brennen Dale, Lincoln Naber all those guys, the leadership they bring they’ve matured since last year.”

Naber was a bright spot for the Bears, scoring seven points in each half.

“He’s confident,” Duwa said. “He spent a lot of time in the gym and I try to build him up as much as I can because he has the look to him, he’s a big kid and he works hard and that’s something that he’s always been that way but he continues to develop. I’m proud of him the way he goes at it each day.”

Burlington Notre Dame     18  18  20  16  –  72

West Branch                          9   12  14  19  –  54

Burlington Notre Dame (72) – Tatum Warner 0-2 0-0 0, L.J. Harris 5-6 0-0 12, Shay Stephens 10-18 10-11 31, Griffin Kies 2-5 0-0 6, Garrison Reid 1-3 0-0 2, Kinser Tripp 0-1 0-0 0, Kellan Porter 2-3 1-2 5, Eli Oleson 6-13 0-1 13, Payne Prottsman 2-3 0-0 5, Ehren Van Winkle 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 28-55 11-14 72.

West Branch (54) – Michael Montgomery 1-1 1-2 3, Jayden Harris 2-7 0-0 4, Brandon Pedersen 3-5 4-5 12, Brennen Dale 2-9 5-6 10, Lincoln Naber 6-6 2-4 14, Cody Maddux 2-6 2-2 7, Bryce Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, Grayson Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Kaleb Rios 0-1 0-0 0, McGavin Smith 0-7 0-0 0, Totals 18-45 14-19 54.

3-point field goal – WB 4-14 (Pedersen 2-3, Dale 1-4, Maddux 1-2, Harris 0-1, Rios 0-1, Smith 0-3), BND (Warner 0-1, Stephens 1-6, Kies 2-4, Tripp 0-1, Oleson 1-4, Prottsman 1-2, Van Winkle 0-1). Rebounds – WB 24 (Naber 5), BND 36 (Stephens 9). Turnovers – WB 14, BND 8.  Total fouls – WB 15, BND 20. Fouled out – BND (Porter). Technical fouls – None.

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