Wildcats fall to Pender in SubDistrict title game

PENDER - The Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats came up five points short of a trip to a district final with a 56-51 loss to the Pender Pendragons Feb. 26 for the Class C2-6 Subdistrict Basketball Tournament finals.

It was a game of runs and droughts which eventually went to the hosts.

The Wildcats got things going early on. Austin Sudbeck nailed a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the game to give Hartington-Newcastle a 3-0 lead, but a Welsh bucket and Ryan Krueger finished off a Pendragon fast break and Pender took the lead 4-2.

Keatyn Arens splashed a long ball then scored on a dribble drive to the paint and the ‘Cats went up 8-5.

Sudbeck hit Colton Cavanaugh on the block and he scored and the advantage went to 10-5.

Pender got to within one at 10-9, but a Sudbeck shot from deep made it 13-9 and Lammers received a pass from Will Feilmeier and scored.

Zander Welsh hit two charity tosses but a baseline drive on the left side of the paint by Lammers and a Sudbeck to Lammers fast break put the Wildcats up by six.

The first eight minutes ended with Hartington-Newcastle in front, 19-13.

“We missed a lot of free throws and we gave them some easy baskets a couple of times and that was the game,” said Wildcat coach Tylor Fincher. “We were right there, we just couldn’t get over the hump in the second half. We made a couple of mistakes in a row and they took advantage of it.”

Trevor Trimble canned a trifecta for the Pendragons, Krueger hit a couple of charity tosses and Grant Giesert hit from downtown and Pender trailed by a single point 22-21.

Sudbeck hit Mason Krause inside for the Wildcats, but a Trimble bucket just inside the arc and another from beyond the 3-point line and the Pendragons took the lead 26-24 with just over 3:30 left in the first half.

Lammers, who would finish with a team-high 16 points, scored inside for the ‘Cats but Pender would score the final two buckets before the intermission sending the teams to the locker room with the Pendragons up 32-26.

The Pender advantage hovered right around the five to six-point margin through the third quarter, but a Maximus McCray free throw with 35.9 seconds left in the frame brought the Wildcats to within 43-40.

Zander Welsh, who scored a game-high 25 points, hit a step back long ball and the Pendragon lead was back up to 46-40 at the end of the period.

The ‘Cats trailed by 10 with just over four minutes left in the game but Sudbeck hit Kelly inside then hit 1-of-2 free throws and Lammers hit a baseline turn around jumper and the Pendragon lead was cut to 54-48.

Pender was up by eight after a pair of Welsh makes from the foul line with 10.3 seconds left and an Arens bucket from deep completed the scoring.

“Hartington-Newcastle has a really nice team,” said Andy Welsh. “That Lammers kid was out most of the year and now he’s healthy, they are a lot better than their record shows.”

Lammers was playing in just his ninth game of the year due to an injury suffered in football.

Arens finished with eight points to add to Lammers’ 16, Sudbeck and Cavanaugh each scored seven.

Lammers finished with eight rebounds, Sudbeck dished out five assists and swiped three steals.

HNS 19 7 14 11 - 51 Pender 13 19 11 10 - 56 HNS(11-13): Carter Kelly 2-2 0-0 5; Austin Sudbeck 2-7 1-2 7; Will Feilmeier 1-7 3-4 5; Keatyn Arens 3-5 0-0 8; Brayden Lammers 8-12 0-3 16; Mason Krause 1-2 0-0 2; Maximus McCray 0-0 1-2 1; Colton Cavanaugh 3-5 1-2 7. PENDER (21-5): Trevor Trimble 3-9 1-2 7; Reece Heineman 4-7 0-0 10; Grant Geisert 1-3 0-0 3; Carter Hansen 1-2 0-0 2; Zander Welsh 8-21 6-7 25; Ryan Krueger 2-3 3-6 9.