Cedar boys earn split against conference foes

HARTINGTON - Cedar Catholic dropped Guardian Angels Central Catholic at the Hartington-Newcastle gymnasium Jan. 20, 60-51, after dropping a game to Wayne the night before, 57-36 at the Werner Activities Center.

The Trojans played GACC across the street at Hartington-Newcastle as the Werner Activities Center was busy with the Mid-State wrestling tournament.

“We felt fortunate that Mother Nature allowed us to play a game,” Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst said. “Hopefully we can begin to have a consistent practice and game schedule to allow us to get some momentum.”

The Trojans had missed 15 days of games and practices before taking on the Blue Devils.

Against the Bluejays, Cedar Catholic sprinted to a 16-9 advantage at the end of the opening frame.

“We forced some turnovers with our defensive pressure which led to some easy points,” Haselhorst said.

The Trojans scored 22 points off of Bluejay turnovers and out-rebounded Guardian Angels, 27-22, a point of emphasis prior to the game.

“We wanted to out-rebound them and push the ball in transition which also led to good shots at the rim,” the coach said. “We shot a high percentage offensively.”

The Trojans shot 16-for-28 (57%) from inside the 3-point line and 6-of-14 (42.9%) from behind the arc.

Alex Kuehn led a balanced Cedar Catholic scoring attack which saw four Trojans reach double figures.

Kuehn poured in 13 points, Jaymison Cattau and Ty Thoene put in 12 each and Nolan Becker had 11.

Kuehn just missed a double-double with nine rebounds and he also recorded five assists and had a couple of blocks.

Cattau had four steals and Thoene dished out four assists. Braeden Reifenrath had three assists.

In a rematch of the finals of the Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout Wayne came to Hartington to take on the Trojans again on Jan. 19.

The Blue Devils won the first game, 49-39 and won the second time around, 57-36.

“We didn’t handle their full court pressure well,” Haselhorst said. “We had far too many errors with our ball handling and passing which led to them outscoring us 29-9 in points off turnovers.”

Wayne got out to a 23-10 lead after the opening quarter and led by 20 after scoring the first seven points of the second quarter before the Trojans got busy.

Cattau hit a three with 5:36 left before the intermission after Haselhorst had called a timeout.

Becker stole the ball and drove the length of the floor for a lay up and he was fouled. He converted the traditional 3-point play at the line then Cattau spotted Becker inside for a nifty bucket and Cedar Catholic was back to within 12, 30-18.

Jacob Steffen hit 1-of-2 charity tosses to make it 30-19 before the Blue Devils scored inside.

Alex Kuehn drove to the basket and scored while being fouled, he missed the foul shot then Becker hit 1-of-2 free throws and the lead was back to 11 with 41.1 seconds left before the intermission.

The team went to the locker room with Wayne in front, 34-22.

The Blue Devils hit a three at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter to lead by 17 then closed out the final eight minutes to claim their second win over the Trojans.

“When we were able to get into our half court offense, we generally got the looks we wanted,” said Haselhorst. “The points off turnovers were the difference in the ballgame.” Becker led the Cedar Catholic offense with

16 points, Alex Kuehn added eight.

The Trojans were set to take on undefeated Ponca on the raod, Jan. 23 before a game with Wynot at home Jan. 26.

GACC 9 10 14 18 — 51 Cedar 16 12 18 14 — 60

P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.

GACC (4-9): Cody Hass 0-2 0-0 0P, 1R, 1S; Sam Hass 2-3 0-0 5P, 4R, 3S; Jesse Steffen 1-3 0-0 2P,

3R, 1A, 3S; Konnor Kralik 6-17 1-1 14P, 2R, 4A, 2S; Chase Smith 0-3 2-2 2P, 2R, 1A; Bryce Bailey 4-11

3-4 11P, 2R, 4S; Joe Schwer 4-7 3-4 11P, 3R, 1A, 1S; Myles Dinslage 2-7 2-2 6P, 4R, 1A, 4S, 1B.

CEDAR (9-4): Alex Kuehn 5-7 2-3 13P, 9R, 5A,

1S, 2B; Jaymison Cattau 5-9 0-0 12P, 4R, 1A, 4S,

1B; Nolan Becker 4-6 2-4 11P, 4R, 2A; Ty Thoene

4-9 3-3 12P, 2R, 4A, 3S; Mason Baller 1-4 0-0 3P,

2R; Braeden Reifenrath 2-4 1-2 5P, 1R, 3A; Jared Rutar 0-1 0-0 0P, 1S; Jacob Steffen 1-2 2-2 4P, 3R. Wayne 23 11 13 10 — 57 Cedar 10 12 8 6 — 36 WAYNE (12-3) : Caiden Backer 1-4 0-0 3P, 5R, 1A,

2S; Drue Davis 6-12 0-0 12P, 6R, 2A, 1B; Colson Nelson 6-14 4-4 20P, 5R, 1A, 1S; Devin Anderson

2-6 1-2 6P, 2R, 2A, 1S; Jace Jorgensen 3-3 3-4 9P,

2R, 2A, 1S; Gavin Redden 1-3 2-2 4P, 3A, 4S; Kaleb Moormeier 1-3 0-0 3P, 3R, 1A, 1S.

CEDAR: Alex Kuehn 4-8 0-5 8P, 8R, 2A, 2S; Jaymison Cattau 2-6 0-0 6P, 2R, 3A, 1S, 1B; Nolan Becker 7-10 2-4 16P, 2R, 1A, 7S; Ty Thoene 1-3 1-2

3P, 1R; Braeden Reifenrath 1-2 0-0 2P, 3R, 2A, Mason Baller 0-2 0-0 0P, 1R, 2B; Sam Kuehn 0-1 0-0

0P, 1R; Aaron Wortmann 0-1 0-0 0P; Jacob Steffen

0-0 1-2 1P, 1R, 1A.