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LAUREL — The Cedar Catholic Trojan basketball team used relentless defense to turn back the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears Jan. 8 62-36 on the road.
“We did a fair job of applying pressure all over the floor,” said Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst. “That led to a lot of forced turnovers.”
The Trojans came out strong from the opening tip ending the first quarter with a 22-14 advantage then limited LCC to just six points in the second period.
Meanwhile, Cedar put up 13 in the second frame to take a 35-20 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Bears got a little offense going in the third but the Trojans still added a point to their lead then outscored their opponents in the fourth 13-3 to post the 62-36 final.
Aaron Wortmann, seeing some extended action since an injury early in the season, led a balanced Trojan offensive attack with 13 points.
Mason Baller and Kighter Wortmann each tossed in 11, Gavin Klug and Micah Cattau each tacked on nine.
Will Steffen yanked down seven rebounds and Aaron Wortmann swiped five steals.
Cedar Catholic was scheduled to host Wynot on Jan. 13 and will welcome Dakota Valley, SD on Jan. 15.
The Trojans will travel to Pierce for a Mid State Conference tilt on Jan. 16 then travel to O’Neill to take on St. Mary’s on Jan. 20.
Cedar (5-4) 22 13 14 13 — 62 LCC (4-7) 14 6 13 3 — 36 CEDAR CATHOLIC: Mason Baller 4-14 2-2 11; Myles Baller 0-1 0-0 0; Gavin Klug 3-6 2-4 9; Aaron Wortmann 5-9 0-0 13; Micah Cattau 3-5 2-3 9; Toby Heine 1-1 0-0 2; Cooper Hochstein 0-1 0-0 0; Breiton Whitmire 1-1 0-0 3; Kighter Wortmann 5-9 0-0 11; Jared Rutar 1-3 0-0 3; Will Steffen 0-3 1-2 1.
