Cedar wins Top 10 battle with Norfolk Catholic

HARTINGTON — Cedar Catholic welcomed a very hot Norfolk Catholic Knight basketball team to the Monsignor Werner Activities Center Friday for a Class C2 Top 10 showdown.

The win gives the Trojans a tie for the top spot in the MidStates Conference season standings with Wayne.

The Trojans used a solid week of preparation to cool down the red-hot Knights and send them back to Norfolk with a 59-44 loss.

“We had a nice long week of preparation,” Cedar Catholic coach, Nick Haselhorst said. “We played with joy and had great focus and intensity the entire game.”

Norfolk Catholic came into the game winning 9-of-10 games dating back a month, but the Trojans had played well of late too, winning 7-of-8 including the win over the Knights.

Cedar Catholic sprinted to an early lead, establishing a 16-11 advantage after the first rest stop.

“Offensively, we passed the ball well,” Haselhorst said. “We had smart player movement resulting in some baskets at the rim and open shots.”

The Knights nibbled into the lead by a single point before the intermission, but an explosive third frame put Cedar Catholic in control.

“In the third quarter our press dug in and we trapped the ball well,” the coach said. “We forced them into a flurry of turnovers, which really swayed the game in our favor.”

The Trojans forced 28 Knight turnovers in the contest and registered 14 steals. When the dust settled on the third, Cedar Catholic was in front, 46-29. The Trojans held on for the 15-point victory to improve to 16-6 as they head into SubDistrict action as the top seed. Nolan Becker used a game-high 22 points to pace Cedar Catholic on the night. Alex Kuehn added 17, including an 8-for-11 performance from the field and Jaymison Cattau chipped in with 10 points.

Becker, Cattau and Ty Thoene handed out four assists each and Braeden Reifenrath added three to prove the coach’s point about moving the basketball.

Of the 14 steals the Trojans had on the night, Becker had six.

Cedar Catholic is set to host the C2-8 Sub-District Tournament at the Werner Activities Center, Feb. 20 and Feb. 22.

The Trojans were set to take on No. 4-seeded Osmond-Randolph in the opening round with Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, the No. 2 seed, taking on the third seed, Crofton after that. Tuesday’s winners will advance to the finals scheduled to tipoff at 6:30 p.m. Thursday Feb. 22.

Thursday’s winner will move on to a district final to be determined at the end of this week.

Norfolk Catholic 11 12 6 15 — 44 Cedar Catholic 16 11 19 13 — 59

P=POINTS, R=REBOUNDS, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.

NORFOLK CATHOLIC (14-8): Mason Timmerman 2-4 2-2 6P, 1R, 1A, 3S; Aiden Corr 0-1 0-0 0P, 1A; Hayden Kelley 0-2 2-2 2P, 2R, 3A, 1S; Nolan Fennessy 7-10 2-2 16P, 7R, 1A, 3S, 2B; Carter Janssen 4-7 3-4 11P, 1R, 2S; Max Hammond 1-6 1-2 4P, 1R, 4A, 3S; Braeden Burbach 1-2 0-0 2P, 1R, 3S, 2B; Nathan Timmerman 1-2 0-0 3P, 2R, 1B.

CEDAR CATHOLIC (16-6): Alex Kuehn 8-11 1-4 17P, 6R, 1A, 1B; Jaymison Cattau 3-8 1-2 10P, 2R, 4A, 2S; Nolan Becker 11-16 0-0 2R, 4A, 6S; Ty Thoene 2-3 1-2 5P, 2R, 4A, 2S; Mason Baller 1R; Braeden Reifenrath 2-7 0-0 4P, 3R, 3A, 3S; Hunter Bensen 0-1 0-0 0P, 1A, 1S; Jacob Steffen 0-1 1-2 1P.