Despite slow start, Cedar earns 20-point win over O’Neill

HARTINGTON — Cedar Catholic got off to a slow start, but then shook off the rust to earn a 65-45 MidState Conference first-round win over O’Neill Tuesday at the Msgr. Werner Activity Center.

Cedar and O’Neill started out by trading points evenly until the Eagles pulled in front 11-7 on a Keegan Moore 3-pointer. Cedar wasn’t about to let the game get away, though, and the Trojans responded 10 seconds later with a Charlie Schroeder trey from the left key to cut the deficit to one point.

With 3:08 left in the first frame, Schroeder again found his spot and nailed another trey to give Cedar its first lead of the game at 13-11.

This was the last time Cedar trailed all night as the Trojans then put together a 7-2 run fueled by a Charlie Schroeder put-back and a Carter Arens trey to quickly take an 18-12 lead. A Jackson Bernecker dish to Schroeder under the basket gave Cedar the 20-12 advantage before the Eagles hit a charity shot to round out the first-quarter scoring.

Schroeder opened the second frame with a free-throw and an inside jumper to extend Cedar’s lead to 10 points, 23-13.

The Eagles set the tempo for the rest of the second quarter as they were able to hold their hosts to just nine points in the frame, while putting up 10 of their own, making it 29-23 at the break.

O’Neill opened the second half with a pair of Sidek freethrows to cut the Eagles’ deficit to just four points. The two teams again traded points after that until Tate Thoene, Carter Arens’ and Jaxson Bernecker all hit to make it 35-30 with 3:13 left. O’Neill then put together a nice run paced by Keegan Moore’s trey, which cut the Eagles’ deficit to just two points, 35-33.

Coach Matt Seffen then called a timeout to regroup. The Trojans looked like a different team after that.

Tate Thoene quickly nailed a trey to make it 38-33 and Charlie Schroeder added to the lead from the foul line. Myles Thoene’s contested 3-pointer with just over 30 seconds left in the frame gave the Trojans an eight-point lead, 43-35. Just before the buzzer Dagen Joachimsen dished it off to Carter Arens under the basket to give Cedar a 10-point advantage at the buzzer, 45-35.

Myles Thoene opened the final frame with a jumper, and Schroeder followed that up with a 3-pointer from the right sideline and the Trojans were off to the races. Cedar ended up putting together a 20-10 fourth quarter run to seal the win.

Both teams emptied their benches with 1:18 left in the game. The victory put secondseeded Cedar into the semifinals against third-seeded Wayne.

Cedar 20 9 16 20- 65 O’Neill 13 10 12 10 - 45

Cedar O’Neill FG 17-35 9-20 3 PT 7-19 6-21 FT 10-14 9-1 Reb 38 29 TOs 11 15

SCORING

Cedar - Charlie Schroeder, 23; CarterArens, 9; Tate Thoene, 9; Myles Thoene, 7; Jackson Bernecker, 7; Brady Steffen, 6; Dagen Joachimsen, 2; Mack Kuehn, 2. O’Neill - Kolby Dean, 14; Keegan Moore, 7; Brady Sidak, 6; Payton Mathews, 6; Parker Heiss, 4; Michael Poese, 2; Mason Walsh, 2; Andrew Alder, Landon Classon, 2.

REBOUNDS

Cedar - Brady Steffen, 11; Charlie Schroeder, 10; CarterArens, 4; Myles Thoene, 3; Jackson Bernecker, 3; Tate Thoene, Hunter Thoene, 1; Dagen Joachimsen, 1. O-Neill - Kolby Dean, 10; Brady Sidak, 7; Peyton Matthews, 3; Landon Classen, 2.

ASSISTS

Cedar - Brady Steffen, 9; Tate Thoene, 3; Myles Thoene, 2; Carson Arens, 1; Jackson Bernecker, 1; Charlie Schroeder, 1; Dagen Joachimsen, 1. O’Neill - Brady Sidak, 4; Peyton Matthews, 2; Michael Poese, 2; Andrew Alder, 1; Kolby Dean, 1;

STEALS

Cedar - Tate Thoene, 4; Brady Steffen, 3; Charlie Schroeder, 2; Myles Thoene, 1; Carter Arens, 1. O’Neill - Kolby Dean, 2; Andrew Alder, 2; Brady Sidak Payton Matthews, 1; Michael Poese, 1.