Cedar boys get off to a slow start
HARTINGTON — After a tough start to the basketball season, the Cedar Catholic Trojans found the best way possible to bounce back.
The Trojans cruised past Crofton, 49-26, last week to even the slate at 1-1 heading into the Holidays.
Cedar Catholic played Tuesday in Fremont at the Knights Classic against South Sioux City before hitting the Dec. 23-27 moratorium.
“We played well enough to win, but we are still not firing on all cylinders,” Cedar Catholic head coach Matt Steffen said about the Crofton win. “We did a much better job of sharing the ball and played better as a team.”
Steffen was hoping to see the team’s shooting percentage and ability to push the ball up improve as Christmas approached.
“It is important to continue to improve on sharing the ball and playin fast and confident,” Steffen said. “I think the kids are starting to get in the groove and play better together. Our chemistry is getting better in practice.”
Against Crofton, the Trojans broke open a 19-14 halftime game with a 14-7 third quarter and then a crushing 16-5 run over the last eight minutes.
Jaxson Bernecker scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Carter Arens added 10 points to pace the attack. The duo not only led the team in scoring, but also proved to be deadly from the foul line. Ceda only went to the charity stripe six times in the contest, nailing all six of their foul shots — four by Bernecker and two by Arens.
Bernecker, a 6-5 sophomore, has been starting for the Trojans since late last year and he believes that CCHS is finding its rhythm after the seniors sat two weeks in the preseason due to COVID-19.
“It definitely had an effect on our game, but this week I think it went well in getting back into the groove with the seniors,” Bernecker said. “On offense, we need our shots to fall and that will come eventually. We just have to keep working on running it well and getting our sets down.”
Bernecker acknowledges that Cedar Catholic makes a habit of playing teams that are a classification or two higher, but in reality, the level of competition all boils down to getting after it.
“I don’t think we are intimidated by the C1 schools – our conference is mostly C1 – we just have to trust in our team that we will go out and win those games,” he said. “It’s more of a team thing for us to just have to work together and beat those bigger schools.
“It’s about getting along with your team and working together. Some of those bigger schools may have bigger and better athletes, but if they don’t work as well together they might not win that many games.”
Bernecker thinks the team’s level of optimism remains high and attributes some of the bumpy aspects of the start to early season “jitters.”
“In the first half against Crofton we were still figuring out about playing together,” he said. “But in the second half we definitely figured it out.”
SCORING
Cedar - Jaxson Bernecker, 12; Carter Arens, 10; Charlie Schroeder, 6; Tate Thoene, 6; Dagen Joachimsen, 6; Myles Thoene, 4; Blake Arens, 3; Mack Kuehn, 2.
REBOUNDS
Cedar - Jaxson Bernecker, 8; Carter Arens, 3; Mack Kuehn, 3; Carsen Arens, 2; Charlie Schroeder, 1; Tate Thoene, 1; Blake Arens, 1; Myles Thoene, 1; Dagen Joachimsen, 1.
ASSISTS
Cedar - Myles Thoene, 4; Dagan Joachimsen, 4; Jaxson Bernecker, 4; Carter Arens, 2; Charlie Schroeder, 1.
STEALS
Cedar - Jaxson Bernecker, 5; Tate Thoene, 4; Charlie Schroeder, 2; Myles Thoene, 2; Carson Arens, 1.
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