Cedar boys top Norf. Catholic to win Conference

NORFOLK — The Cedar Catholic boys basketball team clinched the regular season MidStates Conference title Friday with a 57-54 win over Norfolk Catholic.

The Trojans wrapped up the regular season with a 16-6 overall record and a 7-1 MidStates Conference mark.

The Trojans were set to open the postseason Tuesday night. The SubDistrict title game is then set for Thursday.

Cedar has been on a roll as of late, compiling a 13-3 record since the start of the year, after a 3-3 start to the campaign.

Against the Knights, the Trojans used a 16-9 first quarter to get things rolling and then led 31-23 at the intermission.

The Knights would chip away after halftime, but it wouldn’t be enough to turn the tide away from the Cedar Catholic boys’ favor.

What made the win even more exceptional was that the Trojans leading scorer - Mack Kuehn - led the way with only 10 points. Tate Thoene and Jaxson Bernecker each added nine-point efforts and Myles Thoene, Hunter Thoene and Carter Arens all finished with seven points apiece to finish off a solid team win.

The Knights got back into the contest late in the second quarter because of some Cedar miscues.

“We had a couple of turnovers which they converted to points and we went into the locker room up 31-23,” CCHS head coach Matt Steffen said. “We were up seven going into the fourth quarter, Norfolk Catholic ratcheted up the intensity and the game got physical. We managed to hold on and win. I told the boys a win is a win, it was a good win for us going into SubDistricts.”

Trojan Grant Arens was feeling pretty good about how the team ended the regular season as they headed into the playoffs.

“We had one bad game against Homer, but then came back against Piece and started to play some good basketball,” Arens said. “We just had to move the ball around and get a good look. Getting stops on defense was always big and we started doing that more.

“We were finishing shots inside and we didn’t do that early in the season. People started to step up and make plays like that.”

Arens said more players stepped into defensive roles off the bench to increase the team’s key stops.

“Once we started playing with confidence and knowing what our roles were on the court, everything just started coming together,” he said. “We were forcing too many threes and we just started swinging the ball and looking for better shots. People stepped up when the starters couldn’t.”

SCORING

Cedar- Mack Kuehn, 10; Tate Thoene, 9; Myles Thoene, 7; Jaxson Bernecker, 7; Carter Arens, 7; Hunter Thoene, 7; Carson Arens, 6; Deagan Joachimsen, 2.

REBOUNDS

Cedar - Tate Thoene, 7; CarsonArens, 4; Jaxson Bernecker, 4; Mack Kuehn, 3; Carter Arens, 3; Dagan Joachimsen, 3; Hunter Thoene, 1.

ASSISTS

Cedar - Tate Thoene, 6; Myles Thoene, 4; Jaxson Bernecker, 1; Mack Kuehn, 1. STEALS

STEALS

Cedar - Carson Arens, 2; Tate Thoene, 1; Mack Kuehn, 1; Carter Arens, 1; Jaxson Bernecker, 1; Myles Thoene, 1.

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