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HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojans are on a steady march towards Lincoln and took two big steps last week by winning the C2-5 Sub-District Tournament at the Monsignor Werner Activities Center with a win over Wakefield, 71-50 and a win over west Holt, 65-44 to grab a spot in a district final.
Against the Huskies on Feb. 27, the Trojans used relentless pressure and an opportunistic offense to turn the tide and eventually build a comfortable lead to come away with the 21-point win and the Sub-District title.
“At the end of the first quarter the message was that we were doing our job,” Cedar Catholic coach Nick Haselhorst said. “We could visually see West Holt was already breathing hard, we wanted to to keep attacking and keep up our defensive pressure. We wanted to pressure them 94 feet. we wanted intense ball pressure, stay in front, and make them earn everything they got. We were ready to play.”
The Trojan defense held West Holt to single digits in the first two quarters while putting up 32 points offensively to build a 32-18 advantage heading into the halftime huddle.
The Huskies whittled a point off the lead in the third, but Cedar Catholic poured in 20 points in the final frame to come away with the win.
Mason Baller and Nolan Becker paced the Trojan offense with 16 points apiece. Jaymison Cattau and Braeden Reifenrath tossed in seven points each.
Becker completed a double-double by grabbing 11 rebounds. Baller and Micah Cattau each pulled down five missed shots.
Becker also dished out five assists, Jaymison Cattau recorded four.
In the battle of the Trojans on Feb. 25, the Cedar Catholic Trojans came out firing on all cylinders offensively while springtin to a 19-6 lead in the opening eight minutes.
“We got off to a great start at both ends of the court,” said Haselhorst. “We took control of the game early and never relinquished it.”
The lead remained 13 at the intermission, but ballooned to 24 at the end of three and Cedar Catholic coasted to the win, inserting the reserves as the clock wound down.
Becker fired in 23 points on the night, Aaron Wortmann tossed in 16 and Jaymison Cattau added 11.
Braeden Reienrath and Becker each gathered in eight rebounds, Becker handed out five assists and recorded three steals.
Cedar Catholic was set to host the C2-5 District final March 4 with the Sutton Mustangs coming to the Msgr. Werner Activities Center with an 18-6 record.
The Trojans were the No. 5 seed and the Mustangs the No. 12 seed in Class C2.
Schoool officials announced Monday that a Tuesday storm would cause the game to be moved up from 7 p.m. to 3 p.m. The Cedar County News went to press before the game was set to tip off, so no results were available at press time.
The District winner will advance to the Nebraska High School Basketball Championships Mar. 12-15 in Lincoln.
C2-5 SUB-DISTRICT TOURNAMENT WH (20-5) 9 9 14 12 — 44 Cedar (20-6) 12 20 13 20 — 65
WEST HOLT: Ezra Sholes 0-1 0-0 0; Gabriel Monasterio 0-1 1-2 1; Drake Nemetz 4-13 0-5 11; Kellen Monasterio 0-5 2-3 2; Mason Crumrine 5-15 0-0 12; Lincoln Conrad 3-8 3-10 9; Vinny Blackford 0-1 0-0 0; Zach Hooey 2-7 5-6 9.
CEDAR CATHOLIC: Mason Baller 6-10 0-0 16; Hunter Bensen 0-3 0-0 0; Keyton Arens 0-1 0-0 0; Jaymison Cattau 2-10 2-2 7; Braeden Reifenrath 2-3 2-2 7; Nolan Becker 4-13 6-8 16; Micah Cattau 1-3 1-2 3; Breiton Whitmire 0-0 2-2 2; Aaron Wortmann 2-4 0-0 6; Jared Rutar 0-1 0-0 0.
Wakefield (13-10) 6 15 9 20 — 50 Cedar (20-6) 19 15 20 17 — 71
WAKEFIELD: Jacob Birkley 3-10 1-2 8; Brandon Paredes 4-8 0-0 11; Tim Kaufman 3-11 0-0 9; Jacob Borg 2-6 3-7 7; Cael Johnson 3-18 2-4 8; Benny Palma 1-3 0-0 2; Jesse Lundahl 2-4 1-2 5.
CEDAR CATHOLIC: Baller 2-5 0-0 4; Arens 0-0 1-2 1; J. Cattau 4-5 3-3 11; Reifenrath 3-5 1-1 9; Becker 8-15 4-7 23; Gavin Klug 0-1 0-0 0; M. Cattau 0-4 0-0 0; Whitmire 1-2 0-0 2; A. Wortmann 7-12 1-2 16; Kighter Wortmann 1-1 1-2 3; Jacob Steffen 1-4 0-0 2.
