Trojans earn third-place trophy at MidStates Tny.

NORFOLK — Cedar Catholic earned the third-place trophy Saturday in the MidState Conference Tournament.

The Trojans picked up a 67-36 first-round win over Battle Creek, then fell to Wayne 60-42 in the semifinal contest before bouncing back to claim the bronze with a 66-60 win against Norfolk Catholic.

“We played a great game on defense and were pretty efficient on offense winning (against Battle Creek),” Steffen said. “We got some good minutes from our bench.”

Cedar lost to Wayne in the semifinals and the game was closer than the score indicates with Cedar down eight points with four minutes left. Wayne did a good job of taking care of the ball and they were hot from behind the arc.

“(The Norfolk Catholic) game was tight the whole way, with them making 11 3-pointers to keep the game tight. It was a great team effort,” said Steffen.

Jaxson Bernecker and Carson Arens both scored 17 points and five different players hit at least one trey on the night. No other statistics were made available.

Statistics of the Wayne and Battle Creek games were also not made available.

One thing that can be taken from the Norfolk Catholic win is the continual contribution from the sophomores Bernecker and Arens.

“They have really stepped up and are helping to provide more depth,” Steffen said. “I feel we are getting our rotations down pretty good.”

Arens said the Trojans have continued to trend in the positive direction since the New Year thanks to increasing their tempo and getting points in transition.

He added that as far as his continual improvement, it has been solid despite a rough patch last month. The older players have helped a lot with that.

“My scoring is coming along a lot better and my defense is developing,” Arens said. “Their leadership is everything: They push me in practice every day. They push you, but also know when to take a back step.”

Arens said that some early season defections by players may have caused a little bit of a roadblock, but the team has improved ever since.

“We figured out who the guys were going to be moving forward,” Arens said. We just kept playing and we have been playing well as a team lately and are growing as people.” The Trojans (13-5) played host to Homer at home Tuesday, then head to Battle Creek Thursday, before returning home for a Friday contest against Pierce and then hosting Lutheran Northeast on Saturday.

“This week will be a grind starting with Homer who is 9-11, but 9-4 since Christmas break,” Cedar Catholic head coach Matt Steffen said. “Having to go to Battle Creek will be tough, even though we beat them pretty good in Conference. Our kids will have to be mentally ready to play.”

On Friday, the Trojans host an old nemesis — Pierce.

“Pierce is always a difficult game. The score was tied with two minutes left the first time we played them, they made their freethrows down the stretch and they won by six. I don’t know much about Lutheran High yet, but we will have to be ready to go.”

SCORING Cedar - Jaxson Bernecker, 17; Carson Arens, 17; Myles Thoene, 13; Carter Arens, 10; Tate Thoene, 7; Mac Kuehn, 2. Norfolk Catholic - Christian Mickelson, 17; Ben Hammond, 16; Brennen Kelley, 9; Mason Timmerman, 9; Preston Burbach, 7;

REBOUNDS Cedar - Carson Arens, 7; Myles Thoene, 7; Jaxson Bernecker, 4; Mac Kuehn, 4; Tate Thoene, 3; Carter Arens, 2. NorfolkCatholic - Kade Pieper, 8; Brennen Kelley 5; Ben Hammond, 5; Preston Burbach, 3.

ASSISTS Cedar - Jaxson Bernecker, 4; Myles Thoene, 2; Carson Arens, 2; Tate Thoene, 2; Mac Kuehn, 2; Hunter Thoene, 1; Carter Arens, 1.

STEALS Cedar - Tate Thoene, 4; Mac Kuehn, 1; Carson Arens, 1; Jaxson Bernecker, 1; Carter Arens, 1.

SCORING Cedar-Jaxson Bemecker, 12; CarsonArens, 10; Tate Thoene, 9; Myles Thoene, 8; Riley Kuehn, 3.

REBOUNDS Cedar-Jaxson Bernecker, 6; Myles Thoene, 2; Mac Kuehn, 2; Tate Thoene, 1; Carson Arens, 1; Carter Arens, 1; Grant Arens, 1. -

ASSISTS Cedar - Carson Arens, 2; Tate Thoene, 2; Jaxson Bernecker, 2; Myles Thoene, 1; Jay Steffen, 1; Dagan Joachimsen, 1; Grant Arens, 1. -

STEALS Cedar - Tate Thoene, 2; Carson Arens, 2; Jaxson Bemecker, 1; Myles Thoene, 1.

SCORING Cedar - Myles Thoene, 16; Jaxson Bemecker, 14; Tate Thoene, 11; Carson Arens, 9; Mac Kuehn, 6; Grant Arens, 2; Dagan Joachimsen, 1; Hunter Arens, 2; Carter Arens, 2; Ethan Becker, 1. -

REBOUNDS Cedar - Mac Kuehn, 5; Jaxson Bernecker, 4; Myles Thoene, 4; Carter Arens, 4; Carson Arens, 4; Grant Arens, 4; Tate Thoene, 3; Jay Steffen, 2; Blake Arens, 1; Dagen Joachimsen, 1.

ASSISTS Cedar - Carson Arens, 2; Tate Thoene, 2; Jaxson Bernecker, 2; Myles Thoene, 1; Jay Steffen, 1; Dagan Joachimsen, 1; Grant Arens, 1.

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