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HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojans learned the hard way Thursday that you can never relax.
The Trojans got out to a big early lead Thursday against the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears in the SubDistrict title game. Cedar took its foot off the gas in the second half, though, allowing the Bears to erase their 14-point lead and nearly pull a huge upset.
The Orange and Black pulled within one point with just five minutes left in the contest. The Bears then took a 45-43 lead with just under three minutes left in the game.
It took some late heroics to get past the Bears, though, to avoid the upset bid by LCC.
The Trojans knotted the contest at 4545 with 1:39 left in the game.
Laurel had a chance to retake the lead, but the Trojans stole the ball off an inbounds pass. Cedar then called a timeout. After a brief sideline talk with Cedar Coach Nick Hasselhorst, the Trojans took the floor again.
With seven seconds left in the game, junior sharp shooter Jaymison Cattau found himself wide open from beyond the arc and fired a shot from downtown for the go-ahead score.
The Bears again had a chance to knot the game, but their shot missed the mark as time expired, giving Cedar Catholic the 48-45 win.
“We stayed in the game.” Bears coach. Todd Erwin said. “We just fell a little short.”
Cedar Catholic Coach Nick Haselhorst said he was happy with the way his team refused to give up.
“I was proud of our kids for showing their resiliency and we found a way to win,” Haselhorst said. “We rose to the occasion and got some key steals and stops, our defense allowed us to have the last shot on our last possession of the game and it proved enough to be victorious.”
The Trojans got out early, outscoring Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 17-’8 in the opening eight minutes then added five points to the advantage by the halftime break. The teams went to the locker room with Cedar Catholic in front by 14, 34-20.
The Bears changed their defensive strategy at the half and slowed the Trojans down as they clawed back into the game.
“We got off to a great start with great passing and attacking their zone press,” Haselhorst said. “Defensively we were locked in and communicating on our switches, but out of halftime LCC switched their defense to a variation of a triangle and two or box and one, it was a wrinkle we had not seen this season. We still had open shots at the rim that we wanted, but we were unable to capitalize.”
Cedar Catholic was able to battle through to hold on then Cattau’s late shot saved the game.
Alex Kuehn led three Trojans in double figures with 15 points on the night. Nolan Becker and Cattau each had 10 and Braeden Reifenrath added five.
Cattau, Ty Thoene, Hunter Bensen and Reifenrath pulled down four rebounds apiece.
Reifenrath and Thoene handed out five and four assists respectively and Thoene added four steals to his night.
LCC 8 12 14 11 — 45 Cedar 17 17 7 7 — 48
P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.
LCC: Bradyn Urwiler 0-0 0-0 0P, 1R, 1S; Kolby Hansen 1-7 0-0 2P, 8R, 1A, 1S, 1B; Gibson Roberts 5-12 4-4 16P, 3R, 5S; Eli Haisch 1-4 0-2 3P, 1R, 1S; Tyler Olson 7-9 4-4 20P; 4R, 1A; Carter Kvols 0-2 0-0 0P, 2R, 3A, 2S, 2B; Cade Johnson 2-2 0-0 4P, 4R, 1A. CEDAR CATHOLIC (18-6): Alex Kuehn 7-15 1-2 15P, 3R, 2A, 1S; Jaymison Cattau 3-6 1-2 10P, 4R 4S; Nolan Becker 4-6 2-6 10P, 3A, 1S; Ty Thoene 1-3 0-0 2P, 4R, 4A, 4S; Mason Baller 0-0 0-0 0P, 1R; Braeden Reifenrath 2-9 0-0 5P, 4R, 5A, 1S; Hunter Bensen 1-5 2-2 4P, 4R; Jacob Steffen 1-1 0-0 2P, 2R.
Cedar topped Osmond-Randolph 68-26 in the C2-8 SubDistrict opener.
Against the Hawks, Cedar Catholic started out on fire and didn’t cool off until the final eight minutes.
The Trojans led 24-7 at the first rest stop, 49-14 at the intermission,s then held Osmond-Randolph scoreless in the third frame.
“The kids came out ready to play and asserted themselves from the opening tip,” Haselhorst said. “We passed and shared the ball well and the kids were playing with a lot of joy and having some fun.”
The Trojans recorded 21 assists in the contest to prove Haselhorst’s point about sharing the basketball.
The lead was 64-14 heading into the final period and Cedar Catholic coasted from there.
Cattau poured in 16 points to lead the Trojan scoring parade which saw 10 players score on the night.
Kuehn added 14, Becker had eight and Thoene and Bensen each chipped in seven.
Kuehn just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, Cattau dished out seven assists and Thoene had four steals.
The Trojans were set to take on Lutheran High Northeast for the C2-3 District title and a trip to Lincoln next week.
Cedar Catholic was searching for its fourth consecutive trip to state and its 23rd overall appearance in Lincoln.
O-R 7 7 0 12 - 26 CC 24 25 15 4 - 68
P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.
O-R: Lucas Bartels 0-1 0-0 0P; Owen Severson 1-2 0-1 2P; Ryan Engel 2-6 0-0 5P; Hinter Buchanan 0-3 0-0 0P; Xander Brown 4-11 0-0 10; Brayden Shearer 0-2 0-0 0P; Baylen Guenther 0-3 1-2 1P; Logan Lienemann 2-3 2-2 8P; Luke Harder 0-1 0-0 0P. CEDAR: A. Kuehn 7-11 0-3 14P, 9R, 1A, 1B; Cattau 6-10 1-3 16P, 4R, 7A, 1S; Becker 4-10 0-0 8P, 4R, 3A, 3S; Thoene 3-4 0-0 7P, 3R, 2A, 4S; Sam Kuehn 0-2 0-0 0P, 2A, 1S; Baller 1-2 0-0 3P, 1A, 1S, 2B; Breiton Whitmire 0-0 0-0 0P, 1A; Reifenrath 2-4 1-1 5P, 2R, 3A, 3S; Aaron Wortmann 1-3 0-0 2P, 2R, 1B; Kighter Wortmann 0-1 0-0 0P, 1A, 1S; Bensen 3-6 0-0 7P, 2R, 1S; Jared Rutar 0-1 0-2 0P, 1S; J. Steffen 2-3 0-0 4P, 5R; Will Steffen 1-1 0-0 2P, 1R.
