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LINCOLN - Cedar Catholic bowed out in the opening round of the 2023-24 Class C2 Nebraska Basketball Tournament here at the Bob Devaney Sports Center with what turned into a 17-point loss to Lincoln Lutheran Wednesday afternoon.
The Warriors defeated the Trojans 67-50 after the teams battled neck-and-neck for the first 16 minutes.
Jaymison Cattau, Alex Kuehn and Nolan Becker kept Cedar Catholic in the game until the waning minutes of the first half.
In fact, the Trojans led 25-23 after Cattau hit his third 3 of the first half, but as they did all game long, the Warriors answered with a 3 of their own to take a 26-25 lead and extended the advantage to 29-25 with another long ball with 3:59 left before the intermission and causing Cedar Catholic coach, Nick Haselhorst to call a timeout.
Becker converted a traditional 3-point play to bring it back to a single point with 3:44 left in the half, but Lincoln Lutheran would score the final six points of the first half including an offensive rebound and put back at the buzzer.
Becker would score first in the second half on a fast break to make it 35-30, but a driving basket by the Warriors, a 3 and a shot inside after an offensive rebound by Jacob Duitsman, who finished with a game-high 27 points, made it 42-30, forcing Haselhorst to call another timeout with 4:43 left in the third frame, but another Lutheran long ball coming out of the break made it 45-30.
Back-to-back buckets by Kuehn, one on a fast break and one on an offensive rebound and put back, but again, a Warrior 3 and a couple of charity tosses and the Lincoln Lutheran advantage was back up to 16, 50-34.
Becker flexed his muscles and scored on a 12-foot jump shot and a drive in the paint with 1:15 left in the third period and the frame ended with the Trojans within striking distance at 50-38.
A Becker fall-away jumper to open the final eight minutes made it a 10-point game, but an old-fashioned 3-point play by the Warriors took the lead back to 13.
Cattau stole the ball after a Cedar Catholic bucket and found Becker inside to make it 53-44 and Kuehn would score later in the quarter to make it 57-46, but Lincoln Lutheran would go on a 10-0 run to put the game away and win its first state tournament game in school history, eventually settling at the 67-50 final score.
Kuehn finished his final game as a Trojan with a team-high 16 points, Becker added 15 and Cattau tossed in 11.
Cedar Catholic finished the season with a 19-7 record. Lincoln Lutheran was set to take an 18-8 record into a semifinals date with Norfolk Catholic, a 62-23 winner over Ponca, Friday, March 8 back here at the Devaney Sports Center.
LL 16 19 15 17 - 67
CC 14 14 10 12 - 50
LINCOLN LUTHERAN (18-8): Braxton Glines 1 0-0 3; Logan Lebo 2 2-2 6; Jacob Duitsman 10 3-4 27; Grant Stowell 2 1-2 6; Trent Ernst 1 3-4 5; Ryan Hager 6 2-3 16; Nathan Holle 2 0-0 4.
CEDAR CATHOLIC (19-7): Alex Kuehn 8 0-1 16; Jaymison Cattau 4 0-0 11; Nolan Becker 7 1-1 15; Ty Thoene 0 1-2 1; Sam Kuehn 2 0-0 4; Mason Baller 1 0-0 3.
