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HARTINGTON - The Cedar Catholic Trojans used a stubborn defense and an opportunistic offense to post a couple of wins over the past week.
The Trojans eked past Plainview 61-60 on the road Jan. 30 and bettered a very good Ponca team, 63-54 on Jan. 28 here at the Msgr. Werner Activities Center.
For Cedar it was the ninth win in 11 starts this year and the 11th win in 13 games dating back to the opening round of the Great Northeast Shootout at Wayne State College.
An explosive second quarter by the Trojans put some distance between Cedar Catholic and the Pirates after the Trojans led by one at the end of the first eight minutes, 19-18.
“We responded in the first half after getting off to a slow start,” said Trojan coach Nick Haselhorst. “We went on a 40-15 run going into halftime which gave us some space.”
The teams went to the halftime break with Cedar Catholic in front, 40-27 after trailing in the first quarter, 12-0 to open the game.
Plainview was far from done however, and used the rest of the game to get back into the contest and fell just an eyelash short.
“Our legs were not quite there in the second half and we missed a lot of open shots,” Haselhorst said. “Plainview challenged us in the second half and we were fortunate to come away with the win.”
Jaymison Cattau had a good game shooting the ball while putting up 17 points including canning five of his shots from beyond the 3-point line.
Nolan Becker hit for a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
In the win over Ponca, the Trojans led wire-towire using defense as their main weapon all night.
“We had terrific defensive intensity,” the coach said. “We played with great energy from start.”
Cedar grabbed a 15-12 lead at the end of the first period then increased the lead to 10, 38-28 by the halftime buzzer.
The team played even in the third and the Indians trimmed the lead by a single point in the final stanza to earn Cedar Catholic the win.
Becker used a blistering shooting performance to lead the Trojans with 25 points. He was 10-for-13 from the field, including a 2-for-2 showing behind the arc and a 3-for-4 clip at the charity stripe.
Cattau added 18, Aaron Wortmann tacked on nine and Baller chipped in with five.
Cattau also handed out four assists and Kighter Wortmann had a couple of steals.
Cedar was set to open play in the Mid State Conference Tournament Feb. 4 against O’Neill. The Mid State Finals are set for Feb. 8 at the Msgr. Werner Activities Center after Friday’s semifinals which are also in Hartington.
Cedar (13-5) 19 21 7 14 - 61 Plainview (11-6) 18 9 15 18 - 60
CEDAR: Mason Baller 3-9 5-6 12; Keyton Arens 1-1 0-0 2; Jaymison Cattau 6-14 0-0 17; Nolan Becker 4-7 2-2 10; Micah Cattau 2-6 0-2 4; Breiton Whitmire 0-2 0-0 0; Aaron Wortmann 3-7 1-2 7; Kighter Wortmann 4-5 0-0 9. Ponca (13-5) 12 16 11 15 — 54 Cedar (13-5) 15 23 11 14 — 63 CEDAR: Baller 2-6 0-0 5; Bensen 1-4 1-2 4; J. Cattau 6-15 4-5 18; Becker 10-13 3-4 25; M. Cattau 0-2 0-0 0; Whitmire 1-1 0-0 2; A. Wortmann 2-5 4-5 9; K. Wortmann 0-2 0-0 0.
