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WEST POINT - The Cedar Catholic Trojans and head coach Nick Haselhorst are getting ready to embark on the Mid State Conference Tournament with a couple of games remaining on the schedule before the tournament opens on Feb. 1.
Cedar Catholic took on a couple of conference foes last week along with highly regarded O’Neill St. Mary’s.
The Trojans opened with a 62-58 home win over St. Mary’s Jan. 21 then traveled to Wayne where they were defeated by the 15-2 Blue Devils 55-38.
On Saturday, Cedar traveled to West Point where they defeated Guardian Angels Central Catholic 61-35 to end 11-5 on the season thus far.
In Saturday’s game at West Point, the two teams played evenly through the first quarter with the Trojans scoring the final five points on a nifty pass from Keyton Arens to Hunter Bensen for a layup and a trey by Jaymison Cattau at the buzzer to give Cedar an 18-12 lead after one.
“We were a little sluggish at the beginning, we had little break downs but we were playing hard,” said Trojan coach Nick Haselhorst. “We told our guys at halftime to just get in a stance and play defense. When we play defense hard, our offense will come.”
The score was 24-17 at the break then Cedar Catholic opened up in the third.
Mason Baller hit Nolan Becker cutting to the basket to give the Trojans a 29-21 lead and start a quick 6-0 run.
Cattau swiped the ball and went in for a slam, then Becker hit Jared Rutar to make it 33-21.
The GACC interrupted the run with a bucket but back-toback long balls from Bensen pushed the lead to 39-23 with 1:30 left in the third quarter.
A Luke Guenther drive along the baseline and a 1-of-2 conversion at the line by Hudson Bramlet narrowed the gap for Guardian Angels and the team went into the fourth with the Trojans up 39-26.
“We talked about closing out tonight,” said Haselhorst. “Closing out on defense and offense and closing out the game. I thought we did that here tonight.”
Baller led a balanced Trojan offensive attack with 13 points. Becker added a dozen, Cattau and Aaron Wortmann each had 10.
Becker grabbed eight rebounds and Cattau had five steals on the night.
Against the Blue Devils, the Trojans started a little slowly as well, falling behind 17-8 at the end of the first eight minutes and 32-13 at the half.
“We simply dug ourselves too big of a hole to get back out of in the first half,”Haselhorst said. “Credit goes to Wayne, they took care of their end of things in the first half and made it difficult for us to get any momentum.”
Although Wayne was hot in the first half offensively, the Blue Devils remained true to their upbringing, so to speak, by playing great defense.
“We know that is what we do, play defense,” Wayne coach Rob Sweetland said. “And we did a good job of making things difficult for them all night. It’s a great start to the end of the season. We have some season left but this was a big game for us. A conference win is always huge.”
After trailing by the 32-13 score at the end of the opening 16 minutes, the Trojans found some life.
Wayne’s Jaxon Kneifl hit an 18-foot jumper before Gavin Redden scored on a drive in the paint to open the second half.
Cattau backed down his defensive player for a score down low for the Trojans then Kighter Wortmann hit a bucket inside to make it 36-17.
Kaden Keller hit a pair of free throws and the lead was back up to 38-17, but the Trojans weren’t done just yet.
Aaron Wortmann canned a lay up inside for Cedar Catholic then Micah Cattau hit one of two foul shots to make it 38-20.
Jaymison Cattau scored off of his brother Micah’s missed charity toss and the score was 38-22 late in the third period.
Cattau was the lone Trojan in double figures in the game, finishing with 10 points. He also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out three assists. Becker tossed in eight points.
A big second quarter helped Cedar Catholic get by St. Mary’s.
After trailing 22-15 after the first period, the Trojans used an 18-5 advantage in the second eight minute session to take a lead into the intermission.
The Cardinals scored 22 in the third quarter to tie the score heading into the final period, but Cedar Catholic did just enough to come away with the win.
Becker led a fairly balanced scoring attack with 16, Braeden Reifenrath added 13, Cattau tacked on 12 and Aaron Wortmann tossed in 10.
Cedar Catholic was set to host PoncaJan. 28 before heading to Plainview Jan. 30 to take on the Pirates.
The Trojans are inked in to take on O’Neill in the opening round of the Mid State tourney in Wayne Feb. 4.
CC (11-5) 18 6 15 22 - 61 GACC (3-11) 12 5 9 9 - 35 CEDAR: Mason Baller 6 0-0 13; Hunter Bensen 3 0-0 8; Jaymison Cattau 4 0-0 10; Nolan Becker 6 0-0 12; Breiton Whitmire 1 2-2 4; Aaron Wortmann 4 0-0 10; Kighter Wortmann 1 0-1 2; Jared Rutar 1 0-0 2.
GACC: Luke Guenther 5 0-1 10; Isaac Guenther 0 0-2 0; Cody Hass 2 0-2 4; Barrett Steffen 1 2-2 4; Hudson Bramlet 0 1-2 1; Chase Smith 2 0-1 4; Maverick Smith 4 1-2 12. Cedar (11-5) 8 5 9 16 — 38 WAY (15-2) 17 15 11 12 — 55
CEDAR: Mason Baller 1 0-0 2; Jaymison Cattau 4 2-3 11; Braeden Reifenrath 1 1-1 3; Nolan Becker 3 1-1 8; Micah Cattau 2 1-2 6; Aaron Wortmann 3 0-0 6; Kighter Wortmann 1 0-0 2. WAYNE: Colson Nelsen 7 0-1 19; Kaden Keller 4 2-4 10; Brodey Munter 1 0-0 2; Jace Jorgensen 4 0-0 9; Gavin Redden 4 1-1 11; Drew Reinhardt 0 1-2 1; Jaxon Kneifl 1 1-2 3. OSM (11-4) 22 5 22 9 - 58 CC (11-5) 15 18 16 13 - 62 CEDAR CATHOLIC: Mason Baller 3 0-0 8; Hunter Bensen 0 0-0 0; Jaymison Cattau 5 0-2 12; Braeden Reifenrath 6 0-2 13; Nolan Becker 5 6-8 16; Aaron Wortmann 4 1-3 11; Kighter Wortmann 1 0-0 2. O’NEILL ST. MARY’S: Ben Barlow 7 5-8 21; James Eby 3 0-0 8; Risken Dawson 0 3-4 3; Ruger Kraft 7 0-0 16; Gage Hedstrom 3 4-5 10; Drake Berg 0 0-0 0.
