By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Tim Bearden started and finished Saturday night's contest in memorable fashion.

The Quincy Notre Dame senior, who entered the game with 999 career points, surpassed the 1,000-point plateau 14 seconds into the game.

Then with 1:20 left, Bearden drained a go-ahead 3-pointer in QND's 61-56 victory over Elgin St. Edward at The Pit.

After Bearden's trey gave QND a 57-56 lead, sophomore point guard Jake Darnell found senior Matt Welding open for a basket with 48 seconds left in the game.

"It was big," Welding said. "We should have probably never let them come back. (St. Edward) did a good job of coming back on their own. Our defense let up some. It's nice to know we can stay with it and not give it all away. We did a good job of ... keeping our heads composed."

QND senior Nathan Lunt took a charge on the possession after Bearden's 3-pointer. And he forced a St. Edward turnover on the play after Welding's basket.

The Raiders (13-10) scored the final seven points of the game to seal the victory and snap a four-game losing streak.

"Ultimately I think you've got to look at the last minute and a half or whatever and see we made plays to win the game," QND coach Scott Douglas said. "Sometimes it just comes down to that. Hopefully, even though we didn't play our best, it will allow us to gain some confidence and be ready to go because we've still got a tough stretch to play before this thing's all over."

The game was reminiscent of QND's loss on Jan. 26 at Jacksonville. But this time the Raiders bounced back after squandering a double-digit lead.

QND entered the fourth quarter with a 50-40 advantage and led by as many as 11 with 26 seconds left in the third quarter.

But the Green Wave (8-15) fought back, scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter.

St. Edward took a 56-54 lead -- its first of the final half -- with 1:39 left in the game on a Josh Dix 3-pointer.

"We had a chance to be snake bitten," Douglas said. "That's what we talked about in one of those timeouts. 'You're not going to be snake bitten. This is your game to win. Go out and win the game.'"

St. Edward's Brett Manning kept the game within reach in the third quarter -- scoring 14 of the Green Wave's 16 points., and finishing with 24 points. QND, which was led by Welding's 23 points, scored 19 points in the third.

The Green Wave built up a 23-18 lead -- their largest of the game -- with four minutes left in the first half. The Raiders responded by outscoring St. Edward 13-1 to take a 31-24 lead into halftime.

Notes: A bare-footed Renita Bunte made a lay-up, free throw, 3-pointer and a half-court shot during halftime of the boys game to win $500 in the Papa John's Halftime Shootout. A few hours earlier, Bunte and the Lady Raiders girls basketball team beat St. Louis Notre Dame to finish the season 27-0. ... QND freshman Adam Longo made the four shots right before Bunte did. It was Longo's second time winning the contest this season.

-- mgoldberg@whig.com/221-3367