Wildcats heating up as they claim a pair of wins

HARTINGTON — The Hartington-Newcastle Wildcat basketball team is heating up at the right time of the season as they won a couple of games over the past week before heading into the Lewis & Clark Conference Tournament this week.

The Wildcats most recently defeated Winnebago, 52-45, on Jan. 25 in Winnebago after taking care of Plainview at home Jan. 23, 43-29.

“The Winnebago game was a great win on the road for us,” Wildcat coach, Tylor Fincher said. “It was great to get some of our younger players some experience.”

Hartington-Newcastle came out in the second quarter and took control of the game, outscoring the Indians 15-3 in the frame to establish a 25-12 advantage heading into the intermission.

The Wildcats added seven points to the lead to go up 42-22 heading into the final eight minutes.

“Our second and third quarters really showed we can play lock-down defense,” Fincher said. “I would have like to have seen us make a few more free throws.”

The Wildcats made good on 17-of-32 charity tosses.

Brayden Lammers did most of the damage inside for Hartington-Newcastle as he recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Riley Sudbeck led the team in rebounds with 11 and just missed a double-double with eight points.

Dayton Sudbeck added 10 points, Cole Heimes chipped in nine and Cole Rosener had seven.

On Jan. 23, the Wildcats beat a very good Plainview team by the 14-point margin after a couple of weeks away from the gym.

“It was great to get back in the gym again and even better to get a great win over a quality opponent,” said Fincher. “I thought we played really smart on defense and put some pressure on them.”

The Wildcats sprinted to a first-quarter lead over the Pirates, scoring 14 points in the opening eight minutes while holding Plainview to just three buckets.

Hartington-Newcastle managed only three buckets itself in the second stanza, but the defense held the Pirates to only five points to take a 20-11 advantage into the halftime locker room.

“We knocked down some outside shots, thanks to Riley Sudbeck,” Fincher said. “And we did a good job on the offensive boards.”

Riley Sudbeck finished the game with 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field, three of the seven makes were 3-pointers.

He also registered a double-double with 16 rebounds in the contest.

Lammers poured in a dozen points and had nine rebounds, Dayton Sudbeck chipped in six points and grabbed seven boards.

Cole Heimes and Dayton Sudbeck had a couple of steals each.

The Wildcats are set to take on Osmond/Randolph on Feb. 1 in Hartington in the semifinals of the Clark Division of the Lewis & Clark Conference Tournament. HNS is the top seed in the Clark Division bracket and received a first-round bye.

The Clark Division finals are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at the site of the highest-seeded winner of the semifinals. A consolation game will precede the finals.

Tri County Northeast defeated Homer and Winnebago knocked off Creighton in Monday’s first-round gmes. The winners of those games will also advance to the semifinals in Hartington.

The semifinals are set for the Wildcat game at 6 p.m. with the winners from the other side of the bracket to follow around 7:30 p.m.

The Clark Division finals are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the site of the highest-seeded winner of the semifinals.

A consolation game will precede the finals, both on Feb. 3.

HNS 10 15 17 10 - 52 WIN 9 3 10 23 - 45

P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks HNS (5-8): Cole Heimes 2-8 5-6 9P, 5R, 2A, 1S; Dayton Sudbeck 4-8 2-2 10P, 7R, 1B; Cole Rosener 3-9 1-4 7P, 1R, 1S; Austin Sudbeck 0-0 0-0 0P, 1R; Keatyn Arens 0-0 0-0 0P, 3R, 2A, 1S; Ayden Rosener 0-4 0-0 0P, 3R, 1S, 1B; Brayden Lammers 5-7 6-11 16P, 10R, 1A, 2S; Mason Krause 1-4 0-0 2P, 5R; Riley Sudbeck 2-9 3-8 8P, 11R, 3A.

WINNEBAGO (4-9): Caden Brownrigg 3-6 4-4 11P; Howard Bassette 0-1 1-2 1P; Cashus Kearnes 1-5 0-0 2P; Rahkim Free-Bass 1-13 0-0 3P; Lavelle Smith 5-11 0-0 13P; Timothy LaPointe 3-13 1-1 7P; Elijah Whitebear 1-2 0-0 2P; Rachman Free-Bass 0-2 0-2 0P; Santonio Nieman 0-1 0-1 0P; Ashton LaPointe 2-4 1-2 5P. PLA 6 5 8 10 - 29 HNS 14 6 11 12 - 43 HNS: Jason Heimes 0-1 0-0 0P, 1S; C. Heimes 1-6 0-0 3P, 3R, 2A, 2S; D. Sudbeck 3-5 0-0 6P, 7R, 3A, 2S; Will Feilmeier 0-1 0-0 0P, 1R; Arens 0-1 0-2 0P, 2R; C. Rosener 1-6 0-2 2P, 1R, 2A, 1S; A. Rosener 0-1 2-2 2P, 2R; Lammers 5-9 2-4 12P, 9R, 1A; R. Sudbeck 7-15 1-4 18P, 16R, 2A, 1B; Colten Cavanaugh 0-1