Holy Trinity Catholic boys basketball coach John Hellige drove his son, Luke, hard in practice Monday night.

On Tuesday, the Crusaders rode the 6-foot-4 junior to a 66-57 SEI Super Conference South Division win over rival Notre Dame at Father Minett Gymnasium.

If Coach Hellige was irate with his son’s lackluster effort at practice the previous day, he was equally pleased with his performance against the Nikes.

“I rode him pretty hard in practice (Monday) night,” Coach Hellige said. “He wasn’t too happy with me, but it paid off for him.”

Luke Hellige matched the number on his jersey with 31 points, 13 coming in the first quarter.

“When they would double, I would kick it out to Maddox (Rung) or Layne (Rung). They were hitting threes and Adam (Soczak) was attacking and dumping it down and finishing,” Luke said. “We really had to come out strong. Last year in the playoffs, we didn’t come out strong. That was real important.”

Holy Trinity (4-2 overall, 3-2 South Division) did just that. The Crusaders scored the first six points of the game and, after a layup by Adam Sobczak off a feed from Layne Rung and a layin by Conner Gehling off a pass from Sobczak, held a commanding 23-9 lead after the first quarter.

“We didn’t come out and play well. They played much better than we did,” Notre Dame coach Dan Kies said.

Notre Dame (3-2, 3-2) chipped away at the deficit, but still trailed by 12 heading into the third quarter.

With Gedi Boal getting to the rim and Liam Delaney and Shay Stephens knocking down jumpers, the Nikes closed within four points late in the third quarter after a steal and layup by Delaney.

“They fought back, but they shouldn’t have had to. Come out ready to play,” Kies said.

Coach Hellige was impressed with Notre Dame.

“Even when we got off to a good start and we had a pretty nice lead there in the first quarter, I knew that they weren’t going to roll over and play dead,” he said. “They’ve got players like Boal and Delaney and Stephens and (Spencer) Brent. Those guys know how to play and know how to win.”

Notre Dame got within 53-50 early in the fourth quarter after consecutive treys by Stephens and Delaney, but it would get no closer.

Holy Trinity answered with a 3-pointer by Maddox Rung and a three-point play by Luke Hellige to stave off the Nikes’ rally.

“They’re a really good team. It boosts our confidence after that loss at Mepo. We just have to continue fighting on,” Luke Hellige said.

Conner Gehling scored 13 points for the Crusaders, while Maddox Rung added 10 points. Sobczak had nine points and Layne Rung scored three.

“My assistant coach Tom (Merschman) said it best. It was just a gritty second half. It wasn’t pretty the whole time. But we were just tough, and we finished the game,” Coach Hellige said. “We want to be a top tier team in this conference. This shows we belong up there.”

Boal led the Nikes with 16 points, while Delaney had 14, Stephens scored 12 and Brent nine.

“We fought for a while. We were right there. But we didn’t do what we needed to do to get over the hump,” Kies said. “We have to coach better. We have to play better.”