Cedar slips past state-rated Boone Central

ALBION — Cedar Catholic slipped past Boone Central here Dec. 1 to record its first win of the new season in its first try with a 55-54 victory.

The win also marked new coach Nick Haselhorst’s first ‘W’ at the helm.

The Trojans were on the road again Dec. 2, travelling to Omaha to take on Roncalli Catholic.

The Crimson Pride bettered Cedar Catholic 78-41 to leave the Trojans 1-1 heading into action this week.

In Omaha, Roncalli pushed to a 14-8 lead after the first quarter, but the wheels fell off for the Trojans in the second eight minutes and Cedar Catholic never recovered.

In fact, the Crimson Pride outscored the Trojans 25-5 to take a rather comfortable 26-point advantage into the halftime locker room.

“Roncalli is an elite team, they have experience and talent at all positions,” first-year Cedar Catholic head coach, Nick Haselhorst said. “Defensively, we did did not have our legs underneath us well enough to keep the ball in front of us and run their 3-point shooters off the line.”

Roncalli reeled off a 9-0 run to end the first half to put the game out of reach.

“We challenged our kids to keep battling in the second half and we did that and found some success and continuity on both ends of the court,” Haselhorst said. “The positives about playing a team like Roncalli are we have experienced and felt what an elite team plays like. We will be better for our experience of playing them.”

The success the coach was referring to in his comments translated into 16 points for Cedar Catholic in the third frame, unfortunately, Roncalli countered with another 25-point quarter.

The Crimson Pride added two points to the lead in the final eight minutes and the 78-41 final was set.

Nolan Becker paced Cedar Catholic offensively with 15 points in the game.

Jaymison Cattau added nine, Alex Kuehn had seven and Ty Thoene and Braeden Reifenrath each rattled in three.

Kuehn, Becker and Thoene each handed out three assists.

In the Mid State Conference match up with Boone Central, the Trojans grabbed a 13-9 lead early, but saw it disappear by the end of the second quarter.

The teams went to the halftime break with Cedar Catholic trailing by two 26-24.

“We challenged the boys to unload their energy defensively and to remain composed and resilient offensively,” Haselhorst said. “We shot the ball well but we also had far too many turnovers, which is somewhat to be expected in the first game of the year.”

The teams played to a 15-15 stalemate in the third period, but late in the game, the Trojans came through and stole the contest.

“We were down late in the game, but we showed our toughness and had kids step up to make critical plays on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball,” the coach said. “then we managed to make some timely free throws down the stretch - thankfully, when the buzzer sounded we made just enough plays to sneak out of Albion with a win.”

The Trojans shot 55.6% (5-of-9) from beyond the arc and 54.2% inside the line.

Reifenrath led all scorers with 16 points on the night. Becker added 10 while Cattau and Kuehn tacked on eight points apiece.

Becker also grabbed six rebounds, Reifenrath corralled five.

After two road trips, Cedar is ready to open the home portion of the season with a date with O’Neill on Dec. 8, before entertaining Crofton on Dec. 12.

Cedar Catholic (1-1) 8 5 16 12 - 41 Roncalli Catholic (1-0) 14 25 25 14 - 78 P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.

CEDAR: Alex Kuehn 3-12 1-4 7P, 3R, 3A, 2S; Jaymison Cattau 3-8 0-0 9P, 3R, 1A, 2S, 1B; Nolan Becker 7-12 0-0 15P, 1R, 3A, 2S; Ty Thoene 1-3 1-2 3P, 2R, 3A, 1S; Sam Kuehn 0-1 0-0 0P; Mason Baller 1-1 0-0 2P, 1A; Braeden Reifenrath 0-1 3-4 3P, 4R; Aaron Wortmann 0-1 0-0 0P; Kighter Wortmann 0-1 0-0 0P, 1R; Jacob Steffen 1-2 0-0 2P, 1R, 1S. Cedar Catholic 13 11 15 16 - 55 Boone Central (1-1) 9 17 15 13 - 54