Cedar closes out regular season with comeback win

HARTINGTON — To say the Cedar Catholic Trojans got off to a bad start in Friday night’s regular season finale here against Norfolk Catholic would be the understatement of the year.

Cedar looked helpless in the early minutes of Friday’s MidState Conference matchup. Nate Brunegart gave the Knights a quick 5-0 lead. The Knights built a 10-0 lead before Carter Arens ended the scoring drought when he grabbed a rebound and popped it back in with just over 4:30 left in the opening frame to finally put the Trojans on the board.

Norfolk Catholic continued to roll as they built an 18-5 lead.

The Trojans regrouped after that, dropping in 10 unanswered points to whittle their first-quarter deficit down to just three points — 18-15.

Cedar kept that momentum in the second frame as they looked unstoppable. A Brady Steffen jumper, with just over six minutes left in the half, gave Cedar its first lead of the game, 22-21.

Cedar continued to roll, hitting for 21 points, while limiting the Knights to just 15 to take a 36-33 lead into the break.

The Trojans put together a balanced offensive attack, scoring 28 points from the paint and 27 from beyond the arc.

On the night, Cedar picked up 22 points off of turnovers, forcing the Knights into 19 miscues.

Cedar, 16-6, has now won six of its last seven games.

SCORING

Cedar - Tate Thoene, 20; Myles Thoene, 15; Brady Steffen, 10; Charlie Schroeder, 10; Carter Arens, 8; Carson Arens, 3; Jackson Bernecker, 2. Norf Cath. Alex Lammers, 22; Ben Hammond, 9; Nate Brungart, 9; Jackson Clausen, 7; Preston Burbach, 7; Travis Kalous, 3; Brennen Kelley, 2.

REBOUNDS

Cedar - Charlie Schroeder, 10; Brady Steffen, 8; Carter Arens, 8; Tate Thoene, 6; Jackson Bernecker, 5; Carsan Arens, 1.

ASSISTS

Cedar - Brady Steffen, 8; Tate Thoene, 4; Myles Thoene, 1.

STEALS

Cedar - Tate Thoene, 4; Brady Steffen, 4; Charlie Schroeder, 2; Myles Thoene, 2.

Cedar out-lasted a Pierce rally to earn a 47-41 win over the Blue Jays in a make-up game from January.

Defense dominated in the first half as Cedar earned an 11-6 first-quarter advantage. The Trojans then out-pointed Pierce, 10-9, in the second frame to take a 21-15 lead into the locker room. The Jays bounced back in the second half, hanging a 14-6 run on Cedar to take the lead, 29-27, heading into the final frame.

The Trojans ended up outscoring the Jays 20-12 in the final frame to earn the win.

Cedar got hot from long distance late in the game, connecting on 4-8 attempts from downtown.

SCORING

Cedar - Myles Thoene, 17; Jackson Bernecker, 12; Tate Thoene, 10; Brady Steffen, 4; Carter Arens, 2; Dagen Joachimsen, 2. Pierce - Gavin Larson, 14; Dawson Watts, 11; Dalton Freeman, 7; Carson Oestreich, 6; Ben Brahmer, 2; David Dale, 1.

REBOUNDS

Cedar - Tate Thoene, 10; Brady Steffen, 8; Myles Thoen, 6; Carter Arens, 5; Jackson Bernecker, 5; Charlie Schroeder, 2. Pierce - Dawson Watts, 4; Carson Oestreich, 3; Dalton Freeman, 2; Gavin Larson, 2.

ASSISTS

Cedar - Tate Thoene, 2; Brady Steffen, 2; Charlie Schroeder, 1; Dagen Joachimsen, 1.

STEALS

Cedar - Brady Steffen, 2; Tate Thoene, 1; Myles Thoene, 1; Carson Arens, 1; Carter Arens, 1.