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NORFOLK - Tyan Baller, Jaxson Bernecker from Cedar Catholic and Jake Rath from Laurel-Concord-Coleridge had a significant impact on the game that unfolded at the Cox Activities Center here on the campus of Northeast Community College.
The 2023 Northeast Nebraska All-Star Basketball game was played June 10 with the Dark team outlasting the Light team 107-98 in an entertaining 40 minutes of basketball.
Baller and Bernecker played for the Light team while Rath played with the Dark squad.
Baller finished the game with eight points, Bernecker tossed in 14 and Rath scored a dozen.
Regardless the team, all three relished the opportunity to suit up one last time with their high school teams’ jerseys on.
“It’s a great honor to get to play in this game,” Baller said. “All these guys out here are very talented, it’s been a lot of fun.”
“It’s really neat to get to know some of these guys you’ve played against in high school,” Rath said. “I knew some of them, but you find out they’re really pretty great guys.”
“It’s amazing how much talent there is up here in northeast Nebraska,” Bernecker said. “And they’re all really good people, this has been a great memory.”
Baller realizes how he arrived in the game.
“Everyone of these guys have put in a lot of work to get here,” Baller said. “It’s kind of a celebration for all of the hard work you’ve put into the game - everyone here is very competitive, but at the end of the day, you realize they’re pretty good guys.”
The final minutes of the game saw a lot of action although the Dark team never relinquished the lead after the midway point of the second quarter.
Bernecker nailed a long ball with just inside of two minutes left in the contest to bring his team to within two points, 96-94, but Landon Classen from O’Neill answered with a three to put the Light team back up by five.
Classen was named the Light Team MVP after scoring 33 points on the night.
The Dark Team hit a basket at the rim, but another Classen bomb pushed the lead to six, 102-96.
Schuyler Mustin from Stuart, who was the Light Team MVP with. 23 points, drove to the basket and scored to make it 102-98 with 1:02 left on the clock.
Thirty seconds later Classen canned another three then Jaxon Claussen of Wausa finished the scoring with a dunk in the final seconds.
“You always want to win the game,” Rath said. “But everyone here is a winner, it was a lot of fun.”
Truer words were never spoken and Bernecker broke it down a little further.
“I feel like the state tournament was our reward for all of the hard work our team put in over the years and our careers,” Bernecker said. “This game was the cherry on top.”
The talented trio of local players will be missed by their respective teams next season, but not forgotten.
“I hope we leave a legacy that hard work pays off,” Baller said. “The more you put into something, and not just basketball, the more you will get out of it. At Cedar, you just keep working your tail off and your time will come - you just have to be ready and be confident in yourself when it’s your turn.”
Dark 22 36 27 22 - 107 Light 31 21 20 26 - 98
DARK TEAM: Landon Classen (O’Neill) 33; Anthony Earth (South Sioux City) 14; Jake Rath (Laurel-Concord-Coleridge) 12; Sage Frauendorfer (Humphrey/LHF) 10; Diego Gastelum (Madison) 8; Trey Quick (Twin River) 8; Brendyn Ollendick (Elkhorn Valley) 7; Jack Borgmann (Norfolk High) 6; Jaxon Claussen (Wausa) 5. Paiton Hoefer (Elgin/Pope John) 4.
LIGHT TEAM: Schuyler Mustin (Stuart) 23; Jaxson Bernecker (Cedar Catholic) 14; Cade Johnson (Wakefield) 12; Dyami Berridge (Winnebago) 10; Tyan Baller (Cedar Catholic) 8; Alex Christo (Boone Central) 7; Isaac Everitt (O’Neill St. Mary’s) 7; Jaden Kosch (St. Francis) 6; Daniel Judd (Wayne) 6; Jackson Knust (Wisner-Pilger) 5.
