.jpg)
WAYNE — Cedar Catholic got past Laurel-Concord-Coleridge in the semifinals before falling to Wayne in the finals here at Rice Auditorium in the 2023 Elkhorn Valley Bank Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout Dec. 29 and 30.
In the finals Wayne used a run in the final minutes of the second quarter to grab a 29-20 lead at the intermission then held on for a 4939 win to claim the title.
In the semifinals on Dec. 29, the Trojans and Bears traded blows throughout the contest before the Trojans earned a 55-49 win.
In the finals with the Blue Devils, Cedar Catholic got out to a 12-10 lead after the opening quarter thanks to a couple of buckets from Alex Kuehn inside and a nifty pass from Nolan Becker to Jacob Steffen at the buzzer.
Wayne did most of its damage outside of the 3-point line while the Trojans did most of their work inside the arc.
“We did a good job of moving the ball around,” said Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst. “At times I felt we had a little too much urgency, almost anxiety and we were pressing to make something happen, we’ll get better.”
A couple of Cedar Catholic turnovers just past the midway point of the second frame, allowed the Blue Devils back-to-back 3-pointers which put them up 23-16.
Becker answered with a 15-foot jumper from the wing, two of his team-high 18 on the afternoon, then Ty Thoene tipped up his own miss into the basket to bring the Trojans to within three with 1:20 left in the first half, 23-20.
The teams traded possessions before Wayne played for a last shot.
Colson Nelsen nailed a 3 with 4.6 seconds left, but the Blue Devils stole the inbound pass and got the ball back to Nelsen at the top of the key.
Nelsen double-clutched another 3 as the buzzer sounded which banked off of the backboard and through the net to send the teams to the halftime locker room with the Blue Devils up 29-20, their largest lead of the contest.
The Trojans would get back to within six in the fourth quarter after a Jaymison Cattau basket inside with just over five minutes left in the game and a 3 by Thoene made it 45-39 late in the game, but Cedar Catholic failed to score over the final 52.8 seconds and Wayne salted away the win at the foul line, canning 4-of-4 free throws.
In the semifinals, the Trojans went up 19-11 at the end of the first quarter after scoring the final seven points of the frame.
Becker hit a pair of charity tosses after being fouled on a drive to the hoop, then splashed a 3 with 50 seconds left in the quarter to make it 17-11.
Cattau spotted Braeden Reifenrath breaking to the basket for the final score of the initial eight minutes.
The Bears turned the tables to open the second quarter, scoring the eight points to tie the score and forcing Haselhorst to gather the troops.
A 3 by Laurel-Concord-Coleridge with 2:48 left in the first half made it 23-22 in favor of the Trojans before Mason Baller rifled a pass to Becker to make it 25-22, but a Bear 3-pointer evened the score at 25-25 with 1:29 remaining in the opening half.
Kuehn grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in the basket to make it 27-25, but another Bear 3 made it 28-27 heading into the intermission.
The Score was tied 44-44 with 3:40 left in the game when Becker converted a traditional 3-point play with 3:07 left.
After an LCC bucket, Cedar Catholic scored six points in a row on baskets by Becker, one inside and one from a nice feed from Kuehn, then Cattau canned a pair of free throws to make it 53-46 with 24.7 seconds left in the game.
The Bears hit another 3 with 14.6 second remaining to make it 53-49, but Cattau hit two more shots from the foul line and the final score was set.
Cedar Catholic and the Bears are set for a regular season match up Jan. 4 in Laurel after the Trojans take on Osmond-Randolph on Jan. 2.
Cedar Catholic will then host Wynot Jan. 9.
Wayne 10 19 8 12 — 49 Cedar 12 8 10 9 — 39
WAYNE (10-2): Caiden Backer 3 0-0 9; Drue Davis 1 0-0 2; Colson Nelsen 7 2-2 21; Devin Anderson 1 1-1 3; Jace Jorgensen 3 1-4 7; Gavin Redden 2 3-4 7.
CEDAR CATHOLIC (6-3): Alex Kuehn 3 0-0 6; Jaymison Cattau 1 1-2 3; Nolan Becker 8 2-2 18; Ty Thoene 2 0-2 5; Braeden Reifenrath 1 0-0 2; Jacob Steffen 2 1-1 5. . LCC 11 17 6 15 — 49 Cedar 19 8 12 16 — 55
