Eagles offensive surge surprises Cedar

O’NEILL - Cedar Catholic let a first-quarter lead disappear and never really recovered as the Trojans dropped a Mid State Conference game to O’Neill here 58-47 on Dec. 13.

“We got off to a fair start in the first quarter with some defensive steals which led to quick offense,” Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst said. “After the first quarter it was a different ball game. We must give credit to O’Neill, they outplayed us in every facet of the game.”

Cedar Catholic got out to a 15-7 lead at the end of the first fr ame but by the intermission, the teams went to the locker room with the Eagles up by a point, 22-21.

O’Neill added 11 points to the advantage in the third and the Trojans nibbled a point back in the final eight minutes, but it wasn’t enough as Cedar Fell for the second consecutive game by the 58-47 final score.

“Once O’Neill got the momentum we were unable to seize it back,” said Haselhorst. “They were quicker to 50/50 balls, they were relentless on rebounds and they simply fought harder than we did.”

Nolan Becker paced the Trojans offensively with 18 points. Jacob Steffen hit double-digits with 10.

Mason Baller grabbed five rebounds and handed out three assists, Jaymison Cattau also dished out three assists.

“We will regroup, learn from this and use it as a stepping stone for the remainder of the season,” the coach said.

Cedar Catholic was set to finish up its pre-moratorium schedule on the road with another Mid State match up, this one with Crofton on Dec. 17.

Cedar (1-2) 15 6 11 15 - 47 O’Neill (2-1) 7 15 22 14 - 58

CEDAR: Nolan Becker 6-12 4-7 18; Mason Baller 2-7 0-0 5; Hunter Bensen 1-4 2-2 4; Jaymison Cattau 1-5 1-2 4; Braeden Reifenrath 1-1 0-1 2; Micah Cattau 0-1 0-0 0; Breiton Whitmire 0-2 0-0 0; Aaron Wortmann 0-3 0-0 0; Kighter Wortmann 1-4 0-0 3; Jacob Steffen 4-8 2-3 10.