DJ Bowles and Stedmon Ford combined for 50 points Tuesday night and led Notre Dame past Grundy County, 79-69, in a District 7-AA boys high school basketball game at Notre Dame.

The Irish, coached by Tommy Fox, moved to 15-7 overall and 4-4 in the district standings. Grundy County dropped to 15-8 and 6-1.

Bowles led the Irish with 27 points, making 4 of 4 shots from beyond the arc. Ford had 23 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, and four assists.

Stewart Gunter added nine points, nine rebounds and three blocks for Notre Dame while Matt Sutton had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Kevin Butner led Grundy County with 17 points while Boo Shrum and Colby Ladd added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

"The emergence of Stewart Gunter as a rebounder and shot-blocker, along with getting Matt Sutton back healthy have been huge for our basketball team,’’ Fox said. “Two big weaknesses for our team in January were a lack of rebounding and the lack of any real physical presence in the interior, but with Sutton back we have been able to rebound which allows us to play transition basketball.

"That is two big district wins in a row for us, and hopefully we can ride this momentum into the tourney."

Grundy County trailed by six late in the first half, but Butner scored to cut the lead to 35-31 on a driving layup with 27 seconds left. Then Ladd got a steal and and assist to Butner for a bucket and foul. Butner completed the old-fashioned three-point play to cut the lead to 35-34 at the break.

"DJ kept us in the game early by knocking down shots,’’ Fox said. “He made a couple of threes from 23-feet. We also were able to change defenses enough to keep them off-balance in the first half."

Early in the third quarter Grundy went up 44-40 thanks to Butner scoring in the paint twice on offensive rebounds. Notre Dame answered with a 5-0 run on a three-point play by Gunter on an assist from Sutton to go ahead, 45-44. Shrum ended the third quarter with one of his three three-pointers to cut the Irish lead to 54-49.

Rashwan Avery answered with a three-pointer from the top of the key to put the Irish up 57-49. Ford then drilled a trey from the right wing to put the Irish up 10 with six minutes left in regulation. After a Grundy timeout, Ford stole a crosscourt pass and converted a layup to push the Irish lead to 12.

Ford then went coast to coast with a floater in the paint for his seventh straight point after a Grundy basket. Bowles made 6 of 7 free throws to close out the game. Grundy went to full-court pressure with 4:27 remaining but the Irish were able to break it and convert repeatedly in transition.

"Stedmon really took over the game in the fourth quarter,’’ Fox said. “He was able to get in the paint off the dribble and finish. He was a little passive and doing too much thinking in the first half. At halftime, Stefan Carter, one of our assistants challenged Stedmon to be more aggressive. I don't know exactly what he said but it really worked. He got in the paint and made several tough shots in traffic. I thought he was the best player on the floor in the fourth quarter."

Grundy County………18 16 15 20 – 69
Notre Dame………….14 21 19 25 – 79

GRUNDY COUNTY (69) – Kevin Butner 27, Partin 6, Meeks 6, Tipton 1, Flts 6, Boo Shrum 12, Colby Ladd 11, Miller, Northcutt.

NOTRE DAME (79) – Stedmon Ford 23, McCutcheon, Avery 5, Ellis 7, Gunter 9, DJ Bowles 27, Davenport, Sutton 8.

Three-point goals – Bowles 4, Shrum 3, Ladd 3, Ford 2, Avery.

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)