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LAUREL — The Cedar Catholic Trojans hit the road for a couple of wins to open the 2024 portion of the season and won a couple of games after dropping the third game of the campaign in the finals of the Wayne tournament. The two wins improved the Trojans season tally to 8-3 with three big games on the horizon.
Cedar Catholic defeated Osmond/Randolph 6431 on Jan. 2 then traveled to Laurel to defeat a very good Laurel-Concord-Coleridge team 50-40 on Jan. 4, a team they had played within the past week in the Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout.
Against the Bears, the Trojans methodically established a lead then held on in the final eight minutes to post the win.
“Having played six days prior, we knew each other very well,” Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst said. “We expected them to be ready to play and they started with an early run. We responded with a run of our own to take control.”
After Laurel-Concord-Coleridge grabbed an early lead, Cedar Catholic battled back to earn a threepoint advantage after the opening frame, 15-12.
The Trojans extended the lead to 25-18 at the halftime buzzer then added six points to the LCC deficit at the end of three.
The Bears managed to outscore Cedar Catholic in the final period, but the damage had been done and the Trojans walked off the court with the 10-point win.
Nolan Becker and Braeden Reifenrath paced the Trojan offense with 14 and 10 points respectively. Ty Thoene added eight, Mason Baller put in seven and Alex Kuehn chipped in six.
Kuehn pulled down 11 rebounds and along with Thoene and Refenrath handed out four assists each.
Becker had five steals on the night.
“Defensively, we were disruptive with our ball pressure,” Haselhorst said. “We were able to contain their shooters which allowed us to keep control of the game for the most part.”
Against the Hawks, strong first and third quarters got the Trojans out of the gate and maintained an advantage that was insurmountable.
“We wanted to bounce back after the holiday tournament and get back to some fundamental aspects of defense,” said Haselhorst. “We applied a great amount of defensive pressure on the Hawks which led to 22 points in transition.” Cedar Catholic nearly grabbed a double digit lead in the opening eight minutes, ahead 17-8 after the first stanza. The advantage only grew by a basket in the second period, but an 18-4 third quarter ended any Osmond Randolph hopes for an upset. Becker again paced the Trojan offensive output with a gamehigh 23 points, Alex Kuehn added 22. Kuehn just missed a double-double after grabbing nine rebounds.
Becker and Jaymison Cattau each dished out four assists and Becker swiped six steals as the Trojans forced 28 turnovers.
Cedar Catholic was scheduled to open a busy week of basketball when the Trojans were to host Wynot on Jan. 9. However due to weather, theses games will not be taking place as originally planned.
The busy week will conclude with a home date with Dakota Valley from South Dakota on Jan. 11 before a trip to Pierce on Jan. 12.
Cedar Catholic 15 10 9 16 — 50 Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 12 6 3 19 — 40 P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks. CEDAR CATHOLIC (8-3): Alex Kuehn 3-11 0-4 6P, 11R, 4A, 2S; Jaymison Cattau 1-5
0-0 3P, 3R, 2A, 1B; Nolan Becker 6-16 2-6 14P, 5R, 2A, 5S; Ty Thoene 3-5 1-4 8P, 4A,
2S; Mason Baller 2-2 1-2 7P, 2R, 1A, 2S; Braeden Reifenrath 3-5 2-4 10P, 7R, 4A, 2S,
1B; Jacob Steffen 0-2 2-2 2P, 3R. LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE (9-3): Bradyn Urwiler 0-2 0-0 0P, 2R, 1S; Kolby Hansen 4-8 1-1 9P, 6R, 1S; Gibson Roberts 1-8 0-0 3P, 2R, 2A; Eli Haisch 1-2 0-2 3P,
2R, 2S; Connor Korth 0-0 0-0 0P, 1R; Tyler Olson 5-9 2-2 15P, 1R, 2A, 2S; Carter Kvols
2-7 0-0 4P, 1R, 2B; Kayton Hall 3-6 0-0 6P, 5R, 1A; Cade Johnson 0-1 0-0 0P, 3R. Cedar Catholic 17 13 18 16 - 64 Osmond-Randolph 8 11 4 8 - 31 CEDAR CATHOLIC: Kuehn 10-12 2-5 22P, 9R, 1A, 4S, 1B; Cattau 1-5 0-0 2P, 3R, 4A; Becker 10-21 2-2 23P, 2R, 4A, 6S; Thoene 2-2 0-2 4P, 3R, 2A, 3S; Sam Kuehn 1-2 0-0
2P, 1R; Baller 0-6 0-0 0P, 1R, 1B; Reifenrath 2-7 1-6 5P, 5R, 1A, 2S; Aaron Wortmann
0-1 0-0 0P, 1R; Kighter Wortmann 0-0 2-2 2P, 1B; Jared Rutar 0-0 0-0 0P, 1R, 1S; Steffen 2-3 0-0 4P, 2R.
OSMOND-RANDOLPH (2-7): Lucas Bartels 0-1 0-0 0P, 1R; Owen Severson 3-5 0-0
6P, 4R, 1A, 2S; Ryan Engel 1-6 1-2 3P, 2R, 1S; Hudson Napier 0-1 0-0 0P, 1R; Hunter Buchanan 1-3 1-1 3P, 3R, 1S; Matthew Alderson 0-3 1-3 1P, 5R, 1B; Xander Brown
1-6 1-2 3P, 6R, 1A; Brecken Shearer 0-1 0-0 0P; Brayden Shearer 2-5 2-2 6P, 6R, 1A; Baylen Guenther 2-5 2-4 7P, 5R, 1S, 1B; Logan Lienemann 0-0 0-0 0P, 1S; Luke Harder
1-7 0-0 2P, 5R, 1A, 1B.
