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FREMONT — The Cedar Catholic boys basketball team charged into the finals of the Knight Classic in Fremont with an 82-48 win over South Sioux City Dec. 19, but fell to Archbishop Bergan 56-47 Dec. 21 to take second place in the event.
In the loss to the Knights, the Trojans trailed by 13 in the fourth quarter before a furious rally brought them back into the game.
Nolan Becker, who finished with a team-high 19 points, opened the comeback with a shot along the baseline, which made it 50-39 when Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst called a timeout. Another Trojan basket made it 50-41 before Becker and Jaymison Cattau splashed backto- back threes to get Cedar Catholic back to within three, 50-47. The Knights converted one-of-two charity tosses and then scored inside to make it 53-47 and the Trojans would get no closer.
Earlier in the game, Cedar Catholic trailed 7-2 in the opening minutes before Alex Kuehn canned a long ball for three of his dozen points in the contest and then Becker stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a lay-up to tie the game, 7-7. An Archbishop Bergan trey made it 10-7 before Becker scored inside to make it 10-9 with 2:23 left in the opening frame.
Another basket, this one inside, gave the Knights a 12-9 lead, but Kuehn answered on the Cedar Catholic interior with a bucket, and with 1:32 left, the Trojans were within one.
Braeden Reifenrath converted one-of-two free throws to tie the score with 49.8 seconds left in the quarter, which is how the first frame ended. The Knight defense stiffened in the second stanza, holding the Trojans to just six points as Archbishop Bergan built a 24-18 lead heading into the halftime locker room.
Archbishop Bergan increased the lead by a point in the third quarter and then built it to 13 before the Trojans’ comeback.
Cedar Catholic outraced South Sioux City by 34 points in the opening round of the tournament and was never really threatened in the game.
“It was a fast-paced game,” Haselhorst said. “Once we settled in offensively and defensively, we excelled.”
The Trojans scored 33 points off of turnovers and had a couple of players register double-doubles in the game.
Kuehn tossed in a season-high 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for his double-double. He narrowly missed a triple-double by handing out eight assists on the night. Reifenrath also hit for a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Becker finished with 16 points and Ty Thoene tacked on 14.
“We did a fine job of moving without the ball and making the right pass,” Haselhorst said. “That led to the majority of our shots being shot from the paint and we had 23 assists.”
Cedar Catholic is set to play in the Northeast Nebraska Shootout against Winnebago Dec. 28 in an 11 a.m. game. The winner of that game will take on the winner of Laurel-Concord- Coleridge and Pender on Dec. 29, with the finals set for Dec. 30.
Cedar Catholic 12 6 16 13 — 47 Archbishop Bergan 12 12 17 15 — 56 CEDAR: Alex Kuehn 4-5 3-4 12; Jaymison Cattau 3-11 0-0 7; Nolan Becker 9-15 0-0 19; Ty Thoene 1-2 4-4 6; Mason Baller 0-3 0-0 0; Jacob Steffen 1-4 0-0 2; Braeden Reifenrath 0-5 1-2 1. South Sioux City (0-8) 17 6 17 8 - 48 Cedar Catholic (4-1) 22 26 18 16 - 82
P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.
CEDAR: A. Kuehn 9-15 2-3 20P, 14R, 8A, 4S, 2B; Cattau 1-7 0-1 2P, 3R, 3A, 3S, 3B; Becker 7-13 2-3 16P, 5R, 4A, 2S; Thoene 6-8 2-2 14P, 1R, 4A, 3S; Sam Kuehn 0-2 1-2 1P, 1R, 1A, 1S; Baller 1-4 0-0 3P, 3R, 2A; Reifenrath 6-13 2-3 15P, 11R, 1A, 2S; Aaron Wortmann 1-4 2-2 4P, 2R, 1S; Kighter Wortmann 1-2 2-4 4P, 1S; Jared Rutar 0-1 0-0 0P, 2R; Steffen 1-1 1-2 3P, 4R.
