Cedar wins opener in battle of Top 10 teams

HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojans came out of the gate hitting on all cylinders, turning away Boone Central 67-61 in the season opener for both teams Dec. 2 at the Monsignor Werner Activities Center.

The fast start for the Trojans was somewhat unlikely, taking into consideration the lion’s share of the team was still on the grid iron some 10 days prior to the opener.

Despite the lack of practcie, Cedar picked up right where they left off last year.

“The game was very fast paced,” said Cedar Catholic coach, Matt Steffen. “Almost warp speed in the first quarter — coach Harris’ plan to press and keep the pace up knowing we had only practiced for a week was a great idea.”

The Trojans sped to a 17-11 advantage after the first quarter, then held on for a 35-30 lead at the intermission.

“We switched to a zone in the second quarter and survived,” Steffen said. I think our kids did a great job just finding the fortitude to hang in there.”

In the third frame, Cedar Catholic again got defensive, limiting the Cardinals to only four points in the frame and used a 14-0 into the fourth quarter to enjoy its largest lead of the night, 58-42.

Jaxson Bernecker came alive in the third, scoring nine of the dozen points in the stanza for the Trojans and a part of his `14-point performance on the night.

Andrew Jones led all scorers with 20 points, despite playing with four fouls for most of the second half.

Tyan Baller added 15 for Cedar Catholic and Nolan Becker tossed in nine.

Bernecker completed a doubledouble by adding 12 rebounds to his night, Carsen Arens grabbed 10 rebounds while Jones had seven.

“Andrew Jones had a nice offensive game for us along with Jaxson Bernecker,” Steffen said. “And Tyan Baller had a real nice game, playing meaningful minutes in a varsity game for the first time.” The Trojans held on in the end to come away with the 67-61 final score. Cedar Catholic will take on another Mid State Conference foe when traveling west to take on O’Neill Dec. 9. The Eagles coasted to a 75-33 win over Valentine in their season opener in O’Neill. “The Boone Central win was a great win for our team,” said Steffen. “Now we get four practices in a row to get ready for O’Neill.” Boone Central 11 19 4 27 — 61 Cedar Catholic 17 18 12 20 — 67 Cedar Boone Central FG 19-51 12-34 FT 17-28 10-17 3PT 4-17 9-22 Reb 48 44 TOs 15 27

SCORING

Cedar - Andrew Jones, 20; Tyan Baller, 15; Jaxson Bernecker, 14; Nolan Becker, 9; Isaac Kuehn, 5; Carsen Arens, 4.

REBOUNDS

Jaxson Bernecker, 12; Carsen Arens, 10; Nolan Becker, 9; Andrew Jones, 7; Tyan Baller, 4; Isaac Kuehn, 4; Jay Steffen, 2.

ASSISTS

Cedar - Carsen Arens, 3; Tyan Baller, 2; Jaxson Bernecker, 2.

STEALS

Cedar - Carsen Arens, 4; Nolan Becker, 4; Andrew Jones, 2; Tyan Baller, 1; Ty Thoene, 1.