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HARTINGTON — Two home dates resulted in a 1-1 record as the Cedar Catholic Trojans opened the 2024-25 campaign with a Mid State Conference win over Boone Central here at the Werner Activities Center 58-44 on Dec. 6 and a 56-37 loss to Omaha Roncalli on Dec. 7.
The loss to Roncalli was a quick turn around from Friday night’s game with the Cardinals and head coach Nick Haselhorst felt his team dragged a little.
“Our legs were not quite the same on Saturday night,” said Haselhorst. “We battled as best we could and got it to a one possession game a couple of times. Ultimately, we could not string together enough stops and scores to ever seize control of the game.”
The Crimson sprinted out to a 17-8 lead at the end of the first eight minutes, but the Trojans nibbled at the lead in the second quarter, yet trailed 31-24 heading into the intermission.
Roncalli then outscored Cedar Catholic 25-13 to put the game away and hit the Trojans with their first loss of the season.
“Credit to Roncalli for shooting the ball well and for being the more physical team,” the coach said. “We will regroup and learn from the loss and be ready for our next opportunity.
Nolan Becker paced the Trojan offense with 15 points, Jacob Steffen added nine and Jamison Cattau recorded six points.
Cattau handed out four assists and Becker hauled in six rebounds.
In the season opener, Cedar Catholic used a warm third frame to hold off the Cards after ending the first half with 22-19 lead heading in to the break.
“We were sound defensively for the entire game and made Boone Central earn everything they got for the most part,” Haselhorst said. “Offensively we were a little slow to start the game, we kind of expected that with it being our first game of the season.”
The Trojans matched their firsthalf point total in the third quarter to go up 44-37, then held the Cards to just seven points in the final stanza.
“When it came to ‘winning time’ in the fourth quarter, we really put our foot down defensively and that led to some easy buckets on the offensive side,” said Haselhorst. “That really turned the game in our favor.”
Cattau led all scorers with 18 points in the contest including a 5-of-9 performance from beyond the 3-point line.
Steffen had a solid game inside, shooting 6-for-7 in the paint to put in 13 points and Cattau snared eight rebounds.
Braeden Reifenrath, Mason Baller, Steffen and Becker each dished out three assists, while Reifenrath swiped three steals.
RCHS (2-0) 17 14 13 12 - 56 Cedar (1-1) 8 16 9 4 - 37 CEDAR: Mason Baller 1-2 0-0 3; Jaymison Cattau 3-11 0-0 6; Braeden Reifenrath 2-5 0-0 4; Nolan Becker 5-12 3-6 15; Breiton Whitmire 0-2 0-0 0; Kighter Wortmann 0-1 0-0 0; Jared Rutar 0-1 0-0 0; Jacob Steffen 3-5 3-8 9. BCHS 9 10 18 7 — 44 Cedar 8 14 22 14 — 58 CEDAR: Baller 2-6 0-0 4; Cattau 6-10 1-2 18; Reifenrath 2-4 2-4 7; Becker 4-13 0-0 8; Whitmire 2-4 0-0 4; Aaron Wortmann 1-2 0-0 2; K. Wortmann 1-1 0-0 2; Steffen 6-7 1-2 13.
