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CROFTON — Crofton ran away from Hartington-Newcastle 66-42 Jan. 24 in Crofton just four days after the Wildcats thumped Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 73-65 in a game played in Hartington on Jan. 20.
The Warriors doubled the Wildcats in the first quarter as the frame ended with Crofton in the lead 18-9.
The lead grew by a bucket in the second and 10 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
“We played really hard, we just didn’t seem to quite finish some close ones and shot very well from outside,” said Hartington-Newcastle coach Tylor Fincher. Crofton shot the ball really well and moved well on offense. They made it tough to guard.”
Austin Sudbeck led the ‘Cats with nine points, Mason Krause put in eight, Will Feilmeier tossed in seven and Lincoln Grutsch had five.
Krause pulled down seven missed shots, Sudbeck handed out five assists and added a couple of steals to his night.
It was a different story Tuesday night against LCC.
The Wildcats went up by eight at the end of the first eight minutes against LCC.
By halftime, the advantage had grown to a dozen and on to 13 in the third quarter, before the Bears trimmed five points off the deficit down the stretch.
The ‘Cats had four players in double figures on the night.
Carter Kelly led the way with 17, Krause put in 16, Colton Cavanaugh scored 15 and Subeck chipped in with 11.
“We really shared the ball well all night,” said Fincher. “It was great to see four players get into double figures.”
Sudbeck recorded a double-double after corralling 10 rebounds was an assist away from a triple-double after handing out nine.
The Wildcats were set to take on Plainview in Hartington on Jan. 27 before the GNAC Tournament gets underway Feb. 2.
H-N (8-8) 9 10 9 14 - 42 Crofton (12-5) 18 12 19 17 - 66 HNS : Jefferson Ruiz 0-1 0-0 0; Carter Kelly 1-8 1-2 3; Austin Sudbeck 3-13 2-4 9; Will Feilmeier 2-9 1-2 7; Colter Feilmeier 0-0 2-2 2; Brayden Lammers 0-2 0-0 0; Mason Krause 4-8 0-0 8; Maximus McCray 2-5 0-0 4; Lincoln Grutsch 2-2 1-1 5; Colton Cavanaugh 2-3 0-0 4. LCC (6-10) 13 15 20 17 - 65 H-N (8-8) 21 19 21 12 - 73 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Kelly 7-11 3-4 17; Sudbeck 3-10 5-10 11; W. Feilmeier 3-5 0-2 7; Keatyn Arens 2-2 0-2 5; Krause 7-12 1-1 16; McCray 0-1 0-0 0; Grutsch 1-3 0-0 2; Cavanaugh 6-9 2-2 15.
