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HARTINGTON - The Hartington Wildcats basketball team split a pair of games over the past week after beginning the week with a 53-27 win over Bloomfield on the road Jan. 7 and a 50-35 loss to Elkhorn Valley in Greater Northeast Activities Conference action on Jan. 10 here in Hartington.
In the game with the Falcons, Elkhorn Valley pulled away in the final quarter to claim the win.
“For three and a half quarters we really played well,” said HNS coach Tylor Fincher. We had it within one point with six minutes left in the game. Elkhorn Valley is a really good team and have two of the best players I’ve seen this year. I really feel like we are continuing to improve each game.”
The Falcons led 12-9 at the end of the opening quarter and 23-19 at the halftime huddle.
The Wildcats trimmed the lead by a point in the third before Elkhorn Valley outscored HNS 17-5 in the final eight minutes to post the win.
Brayden Lammers paced the Hartington-Newcastle offensive attack with 11 points, Cole Rosener put up 11. Austin Sudbeck accounted for eight points.
Lammers hauled in nine rebounds and Sudbeck gathered in six missed shots.
In the win over the Bees, the teams played to a stalemate in the opening quarter, 8-8 before the Wildcats pulled ahead by seven at the intermission.
“We played much better defense against Bloomfield, holding their best scorer to no points until the fourth quarter thanks to Cole Rosener,” Fincher said. “Brayden Lammers got off to a slow start in the game but really turned it up after halftime.”
Lammers would finish with a career-high 20 points, Cole Rosener added seven while Ayden Rosener and Cole Heimes each contributed six.
Lammers completed a doubledouble after pulling down 10 rebounds to go with his point total. Ayden Rosener cleared seven boards.
The Wildcats are set to take on Tri County Northeast Jan. 16 here in Hartington before hitting the road to take on Neligh-Oakdale Jan. 20 and LCC Jan. 21.
“I think our strength of schedule will help us down the stretch,” said Fincher. “I hope we can build on this confidence booster.”
HNS (3-8) 9 10 11 5 - 35 EV (9-2) 12 11 10 17 - 50 HNS: Cole Heimes 1-10 0-0 2; Austin Sudbeck 2-11 2-4 8; Will Feilmeier 0-1 0-2 0; Carter Kelly 1-2 0-0 2; Cole Rosener 3-10 2-6 9; Ayden Rosener 0-2 0-0 0; Brayden Lammers 5-9 1-2 11; Mason Krause 0-0 1-2 1; Ashton Wakeley 1-1 0-0 2. BHS (2-8) 8 8 7 4 - 27 HNS (3-8) 8 15 14 16 - 53 HNS: Heimes 2-6 0-0 6; Sudbeck 1-4 0-0 2; Feilmeier 1-2 1-1 3; Kelly 0-2 1-2 1; C. Rosener 3-6 0-0 7; A. Rosener 3-5 0-0 6; Lammers 9-13 2-8 20; Krause 2-2 1-2 5; Wakeley 1-3 1-2 3.
