BY JOSH HOUCHINS
Herald-Whig Sports Writer
Ryan Stuckman didn't mind attempting only one 3-pointer in the second half Saturday night at The Pit.
He had his fill in the first half.
The Quincy Notre Dame junior drained five 3-pointers in the first half as the Raiders combined to make nine treys.
The Raiders pushed their lead to as many as 30 points nearing the end of the third quarter en route to a regular season-ending 59-38 victory over Normal U-High.
"Coach (Scott) Douglas told us, since we are hitting everything tonight, let's send our seniors off with the right type of game," said Stuckman, who finished with a game-high 18 points -- eight points above his season average.
"It's a lot of fun. Everybody is confident. But the key is trying to keep it going."
The Raiders (16-10) will try to continue their hot play -- QND has won four straight following a four-game skid -- when they travel as the No. 3 seed to the Class 3A Jacksonville Regional next Wednesday to face second-seeded Springfield.
But for U-High coach Bob Fitzgerald, he saw his team's chances of staying close diminished early.
"We knew they were good shooters," Fitzgerald said, whose team watched the Raiders shot 50 percent (20 of 40) from the field on the night. "But a lot of kids made shots for them, not just a select few.
"The only way we could combat that tonight was if we were shooting the ball really well and we weren't. So we sat back and played everybody who is here to get ready for next week."
The QND defense was dynamite, holding the Pioneers to 30 percent (11 for 37) shooting from the field. U-High managed single digits in every quarter until a 16-point barrage in the fourth.
"We weren't intimidated because we were prepared for them," QND senior Tim Bearden said of the Pioneers' ability to put three players 6-foot-5 or taller on the floor at once. "Our helpside defense was great tonight."
Eric McCullough, U-High's 6-foot-9 center, was held to three points -- 10 points under his 13.4 points per game average.
"We worked their big guy off the block, not letting him get looks," Douglas said of McCullough. "Most importantly was the way we rebounded. With that type of team, we have to limit their second looks and I feel we did that tonight."
QND not only outrebounded the Pioneers 24-22, but also forced them to come unglued.
An intentional foul to start the second quarter helped extend a QND 16-0 run, when the Raiders went up 23-9 with 5:40 to go in the half following a Stuckman 3-pointer.
The Raiders pushed the lead to 19 points at the half and ran out to a 50-22 advantage after a technical foul was called on U-High.
"I think they got frustrated when we started catching fire," Bearden said. "It was easy to see how frustrated they got."
It started early for the Raiders.
Stuckman's 3-point blitz began with the Raiders trailing 9-4 early in the first quarter. Three treys from Stuckman, with a Bearden 3-pointer tossed in the middle, led to a 12-0 run ending the first quarter with QND leading 16-9.
"That's hard to defend," Fitzgerald said. "But we wanted to stay in our 1-2-2 defense, because we will need that in our regional. We wanted to prepare for next week at the same time tonight."
-- sports@whig.com/221-3665
