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WAYNE - Cedar Catholic used a 62-33 shellacking of South Sioux City on Dec. 29 at Rice Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State College to advance to the semifinals of the 2025 Elkhorn Valley Bank Northeast Nebraska Shootout against Wayne on Dec. 30.
The Trojans jumped on the Cardinals from the opening whistle when Breiton Whitmire stepped in front of a South Sioux City pass in the lane and took the ball to the other end for a lay up to make it 2-0 then spotted Micah Cattau breaking to the bucket and slipped a nifty pass inside where Cattau scored and was fouled.
Cattau converted the traditional 3-point play and Cedar was off and running, 5-0.
The Cards battled back to make it 7-6 later in the first frame, but the Trojans responded with a Mason Baller trifecta, another steal and lay up from Whitmire and a Ryan Hoebelheinrich feed inside to Will Steffen and Cedar Catholic was up 14-6.
Toby Heine ended scoring in the first for the Trojans with a baseline jumper and the teams went to the second period with Cedar in front 16-8.
Both teams would score 10 points in the second quarter before the Trojans took off in the third.
SSC scored the first two baskets in the second half before Kighter Wortmann grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for Cedar Catholic, Baller nailed another three on the baseline and Whitmire hit Jared Rutar inside on an in-bounds play and the lead was back to 11, 33-22.
The Trojans ended the third frame with a 9-0 run to take control.
Baller hit a 15-foot step-back jump shot, then hit a 16-foot jumper from the wing.
Cattau hit 1-of-2 charity tosses then Gavin Klug was fouled and converted both gifters to make it 40-24.
Cattau finished the scoring in the third with a bucket in the paint and the Trojans led 42-24.
Cedar Catholic hit the gas in the final eight minutes putting up 20 points while allowing the Cardinals just nine to close out the game with the 62-33 final score.
Baller led all scorers with 15 points, Cattau added 10 and Whitmire tossed in nine.
Cedar Catholic was set to take on Wayne in the semifinals with the finals and consolation finals set for Dec. 31.
SSC 8 10 6 9 - 33 Cedar 16 10 16 20 - 62
CEDAR: Mason Baller 6 1-3 15; Myles Baller 1 0-0 2; Gavin Klug 2 3-3 8; Micah Cattau 4 2-4 10; Toby Heine 2 0-2 4; Breiton Whitmire 4 0-0 9; Ryan Hoebelheinrich 1 0-0 2; Kighter Wortmann 3 0-0 6; Jared Rutar 1 0-0 2; Jake Hoebelheinrich 0 0-2 0; Will Steffen 2 0-2 4.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY: Jamison Housman 4 0-0 9; Ahmed Mohamed 4 3-6 11; John Tramp 1 0-0 3; Damee Ellemo 1 0-0 2;
