No. 10 St. Patrick dominates Notre Dame in a rivalry playoff game

When the Illinois High School Association released the boys basketball state tournament brackets one regional semifinal stood out among the hundreds of games: St. Patrick vs. Notre Dame.

One of the state’s best rivalries in a Class 4A playoff showcase at New Trier’s beautiful new gym.

“It was exciting,” St. Patrick senior RJ McPartlin said. “For two weeks at school all anyone wanted to talk about was playing Notre Dame in the first round of the playoffs.”

St. Patrick advanced to the state finals in Class 3A last year and has been one of the best teams in the area again this season. Notre Dame has struggled, but played the Shamrocks close earlier in the season on the road.

Both fanbases showed up in force with loud student sections on Wednesday in Winnetka. The intense environment kept up throughout, despite a lopsided, running-clock 57-26 win for No. 10 St. Patrick.

“To see the student sections going at it is always fun,” Shamrocks senior Maurice Neeley said. “St. Pat’s and Notre Dame is the best rivalry in the country in my opinion. We are always ready for these big-time games and big-time crowds. We are used to playing in games like this, so it didn’t affect us as much as Notre Dame.”

St. Patrick (26-4) held the Dons (14-17) without a field goal for the first 11:30 of the game and led 32-7 at halftime and 42-9 midway through the third quarter.

“[Notre Dame] just had trouble with the pressure of it all,” McPartlin said. “We did a good job staying on the ball no matter where it went.”

McPartlin led the Shamrocks with 14 points and six rebounds. Neely added 13 points and four rebounds and senior Joseph Costanzo scored 12.

“It is the last ride for the three of us and we made sure to keep the underclassmen focused,” Costanzo said. “This was a big game, and we struggled against Notre Dame at home.”

Costanzo was injured playing football in his junior year and didn’t have a large role in the run to Champaign last season.

“I missed a lot last year, and I put a lot of hard work in to come back from that injury, and it all paid off,” Costanzo said. “I’ve had so much fun this season playing with these guys.”

Emran Alispahic, a 6-3 freshman, led Notre Dame with 14 and senior Carmen Meccia added six points and five rebounds.

St. Patrick has an extremely difficult playoff path and will face No. 12 New Trier in the regional final on Friday.

“That is going to be a rough game here at their place,” McPartlin said. “But we are experienced with the pressure and now we have a feel for the court. Hopefully we can come out on top.”

Bailey, who picked up his 700th win this season, has been St. Patrick’s coach since 1994.

“I don’t remember a game against Notre Dame this lopsided in a while,” Bailey said. “I’m sure somewhere along the line there was.

“But this team has done this all year. They’ve been the same team for every game. There are no highs or lows. We don’t play any differently whether it is Notre Dame or Curie. We play our style of ball. That is a credit to our guys.”