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NORFOLK - Two big wins propelled the Cedar Catholic Trojan basketball team to the Mid State Conference Tournament finals over the past week.
In the first two rounds the Trojans got past Pierce on Feb. 3 48-45 then took down Crofton 39-35 in the semifinals on Feb. 6 before running into Norfolk Catholic in the finals the following day where the Knights got past the Trojans 74-56.
In the finals the score was tight until the third quarter which saw the Knights outscore the Trojans 27-13 to break open a three-point game at the intermission.
The teams played even again in the fourth, but the damage was already done.
Mason Baller had a good game and a great tournament. He led the Cedar scoring attack with 18 points in the game. Micah Cattau added 11 and Jared Rutar tallied eight.
Rutar yanked down seven rebounds and Cattau grabbed five and also handed out five assists.
Baller, Cattau and Toby Heine swiped a couple of steals each.
In the semifinals, the Trojans laid claim to a 13-5 lead in the first frame but the Warriors trimmed five points off of the advantage by halftime.
The teams played to a stalemate in the third before Cedar Catholic increased the lead by a point in the fourth to post the win.
Baller again paced the offense with 19 points followed by Aaron and Kighter Wortmann with six points each, Cattau tacked on five.
Gavin Klug recorded five rebounds.
The final eight minutes proved to be the difference in the tournament opener for the Trojans.
Neither team could gain a significant advantage in the first three quarters with Pierce leading by one after the first, the Trojans took the lead at the half and the Bluejays went up by five heading into the last stanza.
Cedar outscored Pierce in the last frame 16-8 to move on in the tournament.
Klug led a fairly balanced Trojan offense with 12 points, Baller added 10 and Cattau tossed in nine. Aaron Wortmann and Ryan Hoebelheinrich chipped in with seven and six points respectively.
Hoebelheinrich also grabbed four missed shots.
Klug dished out four assists and Cattau created four steals.
The Trojans were scheduled to take on Elkhorn Valley Feb. 10 at the Werner Activities Center and will host Battle Creek Feb. 12.
Cedar will travel to Summerland Feb. 13 to take on the Bobcats.
Cedar (9-11) 11 15 13 17 - 56 NC (17-4) 12 17 27 18 - 74 CEDAR: Mason Baller 8-16 0-0 18; Gavin Klug 2-7 0-0 6; Aaron Wortmann 2-6 0-0 5; Micah Cattau 5-14 0-0 11; Toby Heine 0-1 0-0 0; Breiton Whitmire 1-4 0-0 2; Ryan Hoebelheinrich 1-2 0-2 2; Kighter Wortmann 2-4 0-0 4; Jared Rutar 4-6 0-0 8. Cedar (9-11) 13 5 8 13 - 39 CRO (14-7) 5 10 8 12 - 35 CEDAR: Baller 7-10 2-2 19; Klug 1-5 0-0 3; A. Wortmann 2-10 1-4 6; Cattau 2-7 0-0 5; K. Wortmann 2-4 1-1 6. CC (9-11) 8 12 12 16 - 48 PIE (15-6) 9 10 18 8 - 45 CEDAR: Baller 4-10 2-2 10; Klug 5-6 1-1 12; A. Wortmann 1-7 4-4 7; Cattau 3-4 2-2 9; Heine 0-1 0-0 0; Whitmire 0-2 0-0 0; Hoebelheinrich 3-4 0-0 6; K. Wortmann 1-3 0-0 2; Rutar 0-1 2-2 2.
