CHAMINADE SETS PACE EARLY WITH N.D. : CHAMINADE 54, NOTRE DAME 40.

Byline: Jim Inghram Daily News Staff Writer

Chaminade made a statement Wednesday to which the rest of the Mission League should pay very close attention.

We are good and we are confident.

Before a packed house and the cameras of Fox Sports West, the Eagles charged out, took control of the tempo early and cruised to a 54-40 victory over visiting Notre Dame.

Chaminade (12-1, 1-0) raced to a 20-4 lead after one quarter behind the play of Scott Long, who scored seven of his 13 points, and Justin Stewart, who had two steals, four rebounds and four points.

``That's what you try to do every game,'' said Chaminade coach Jeff Young. ``Take control early. It makes things easy. It was an exciting night for us. The guys were excited, the league opener, TV . . . I was really pleased with how they came out and played. We did what we wanted to do.''

Notre Dame scored the first points of the game, when John Murray hit a jumper 38 seconds into the game. It was the last points the Knights (7-7, 0-1) would score until 2:51 was left in the quarter, when Chris Williams made a lay-up; and Notre Dame was done scoring for the quarter after that. In between the Knights' two buckets, Chaminade used a pressure defense and converted Notre Dame mistakes into a 14-0 run.

The second quarter was much the same as Chaminade used its height advantage inside to shut down the Knights.

``They're a good team,'' said Chaminade senior point guard Cayce Cook. ``We have a friendly rivalry with them, and we wanted to make sure we came out and put them away early.''

The Knights didn't get into double figures until just 2:33 remained in the half; by then Chaminade had built a 20-point lead.

In the second half the teams traded baskets for the most part. Notre Dame needed a spark to get back in it but couldn't generate the offense to offset the Eagles' big lead.

Stewart finished as the game's leading scorer with 14 points, Long added 13 and freshman Scott Borchart scored 10 points.

Dante Ward led Notre Dame with 10 points, eight of them in the fourth quarter.

Since a game-three loss to Simi Valley in the championship of the Simi Valley tournament, the Eagles have been unbeatable. The team captured its own tournament and was the champion of a tournament in Hawaii during winter break.

The game will air today at 4:30 p.m. on Fox Sports West2. Former Laker Michael Cooper and Jim Watson do the play-by-play.