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HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojans took care of business and grounded the O’Neill Eagles here Friday, 47-33 in Mid State Conference action.
The Trojans’ defense led the way, holding the Eagles to a season-low 33 points, under 30 percent shooting from the field and forcing 21 turnovers.
“We had a strong night defensively,” Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst said. “We did a nice job of communicating and contesting their shooters for the most part.”
Cedar Catholic got out to a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter then held on for a 23-18 advantage heading into the locker room for halftime.
The Trojans used a game-high 16 points in the third frame to increase their advantage to 39-27, then salted the game away in the final eight minutes, allowing O’Neill only three baskets, for the 47-33 final.
Cedar Catholic made just one of 16 3-point attempts, but made up for it in the paint.
“We did a better job of limiting our turnovers and, overall, did a really nice job of moving without the ball and putting pressure on the rim,” Haselhorst said. “Which helped lead us to 40 of our 47 points being scored in the paint.”
Nolan Becker paced the Cedar Catholic offense with 22 points on the night as the team improved to 2-1 on the young season. Cedar’s only loss came at the hands of Omaha Roncalli — the sixth-ranked team in Class B.
Alex Kuehn tossed in 10 points and narrowly missed a double-double by pulling down nine rebounds. Becker hauled in eight boards.
Braeden Reifenrath added six points and four rebounds and Jaymison Cattau grabbed four caroms and handed out eight assists.
The Trojans took on Crofton back at the Monsignor Werner Activities Center Tuesday.
They are scheduled for the Knight Classic Dec. 19 and Dec. 21 at Fremont Bergan High School to finish the pre-Christmas schedule before the moratorium.
Cedar Catholic will enter the Wayne Holiday Tournament after the break on Dec. 28-30.
Cedar 15 8 16 8 — 47 O’Neill 9 9 9 6 — 33 P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.
CEDAR CATHOLIC (2-1): Alex Kuehn 5-8 0-3 10P, 9R, 2A, 2S, 4B; Jaymison Cattau 1-8 0-0 2 2P, 4R, 8A, 2S, 2B; Nolan Becker 10-16 2-3 22P, 8R, 1A, 1S; Ty Thoene 2-5 0-0 4P, 3R, 2A, 2S; Mason Baller 1-2 0-0 3P, 1R, 1A; Braeden Reifenrath 3-8 0-0 6P, 4R, 1S; Jacob Steffen 0-1 0-0 0P, 1S.
O’NEILL (1-2):Turner Heiss 1-4 0-0 2P, 1R; Ryder Pokorny 1-7 2-2 5P, 1R; Porter Mathews 2-5 1-1` 5P, 4R, Trevor Alder 1-5 0-3 3P; Drew Morrow 6-18 1-3 16P, 3R, 1A; Evan Kopecky 1R; Colton Osborne 1-4 0-2 2P, 1R, 1A; Grant Dusatko 1R, 1A.
