Cougars Winning Streak Ends

By Clare Wiltse

Contributor to Kat Country Hub

The Northeast Cougars had a three game winning streak come to an end.   They took on three teams with an above.500 record.  They beat (8-4) Cedar Bluffs on Tuesday, but lost to (9-8) Humphrey/LHF and (12-5) Stanton over the weekend.

 

LDNE has a 7-7 record with two games this week plus the start of the EHC tournament on Saturday. They host St. Edward on Tuesday.  Thursday, the Knights of O-C will come to Lyons.  On Saturday, the Cougars have a tough draw in (13-3) Twin River in the EHC tournament.

 

The Cougars used a strong start to upend the Wildcats.  The Maroon clamped a tight man to man defense on Cedar Bluffs that allowed Northeast to open with an 11-0 run. The final score had the Cougars on top by 11, 52-41.

 

“It was really fun to watch the team get after them at the start of the game,” said Coach Lahm.  “These seniors have really bought into the idea of playing tough defense and the whole team tries to live up to their standards.”

 

While the Cougars defense put shackles on  the Wildcats Northeast had the offense rolling with scores on five straight possessions.  Dakota Riecken opened the scoring and Chevy Henneman added a trey.  Northeast  got  two three-point plays as Riecken and Alex Brehmer brought the total to 11.  After Cedar Bluffs finally scored Marcus Hegy added a thirteen point as the Cougars led by 10.

 

Northeast had a nine point lead at the quarter, 19-10.  It reached 17 as Northeast had 8-0 run to start the second period.  Henneman and Riecken had goals while Brehmer and Fuston added a pair of free shots.

 

After trailing 27-10, Cedar Bluffs out scored the Cougars 12 to 4.   They had two three pointers in the last minute as they trailed 31-22 at the half.

 

The Cougar defense did its thing again in the fourth quarter  They held Cedar Bluffs without a shot in the first four minutes.  It took the Wildcats until the 3:03 mark to score.  Both team added 6 points and the led stayed at nine.

 

The fourth quarter the Cougars protected their lead despite making only two of eight shots from the field.  They were deadly at the line.  L-D converted eleven of twelve.  The Cougars sent the Wildcats to the line 18 times and they made 13.

 

Dakota Riecken topped the team with 16 points.  Alex Brehmer added 11 points.

 

Cedar Bluffs     10        12        6          13        -41

LDNE              19        12        6          15        -52

 

2pt       3pt       FT        Rb        F          TP

Chevy H           1          1          2/2       2          4          7

Alex B              4          0          3/5       2          4          11

Bobby S           1          0          4/4       1          3          4

Taylor F           1          0          2/2       1          2          4

Dakota R         6          0          4/5       4          1          16

Marcus H         2          0          2/2       6          2          6

David B            0          0          0/0       0          1          0

Dylan H            0          0          0/0       1          1          0

Alec A             0          0          2/2       3          0          2

Team                15/30   1/7       19/24   20        22        52

Cedar Bluffs     7/17     4/13     15/21   27        17        41

 

The Friday contest against Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family went down to the fourth quarter where a two minute scoring drought did them in as the Bulldogs pulled out a 48-41 win.

 

The Cougars showed their grit to make it a game against the taller Humphrey team. After an 8-8 first quarter, the visitors  opened nine point lead.  They rattled off nine straight points to start the second quarter. The Cougars got eight points as Hegy got a three point play, Brehmer scored two  and Simpson nailed a bomb.  The half ended with the Bulldogs leading 24-19.

 

The Bulldogs got the lead up to ten points as they scored the first five points of the half.
The score stood at 29-19 before Chevy Henneman nailed  a three.  Bobby Simpson kept the Cougars in the game with 10 points.  Riecken made the last points of the quarter, but H/LHF still led 36-34.

 

The Cougars had one more surge to make in the game.  Free throws by Hegy and Henneman tied the game.  With 3:45 left,  Simpson gave the Cougars a 39-36 lead with a shot from outside the arc.  After missing six straight the Bulldogs regained momentum with four straight hits to make it 46-39.  The Cougars offense faltered and despite the heroics of Alex Brehmer’s four steals, the Cougars managed to add only one score from Taylor Fuston in the closing minutes.

 

Bobby Simpson had a big offensive game for the Cougars with 16 points including  4 three pointers.  Riecken had  8 points and 10 rebounds.

 

H/LHF             8          16        12        12        -48

LDNE              8          11        15        7          -41

 

2pt       3pt       FT        Rb        F          TP

Chevy H           1          2          1/2       0          3          9

Alex B              1          0          0/0       6          4          2

Bobby S           2          4          0/0       1          2          16

Taylor F           1          0          0/0       1          2          2

Dakota R         2          0          4/6       10        3          8

Marcus H         1          0          2/3       2          2          4

David B            0          0          0/0       1          1          0

Alec A             0          0          0/0       10        1          0

Team                8/15     6/24     7/11     21        18        41

H/LHF             15/37   3/10     9/16     28        13        52

 

The Cougars lost to Stanton on Saturday, 70-44.  “They are a really good team that we do not  match up against very well.  They have two big posts who are 6’7 and 6’5.  We were able to do much in the paint or stop their inside game.” was a comment by Coach Lahm.

 

Coach Lahm added that they could be a surprise team in the EHC tournament.

 

The (12-5) Mustangs had nine players score 4 or more points while have 18 assists divided among the team.  Kyle Sperl led them with 15 points while 6′ 7″ Heppner added 12.

 

Chevy Henneman led Northeast with 12 while Dakota Riecken had 10.

 

 

LDNE              11        10        7          16        -44

Stanton 19        13        19        19        -70

 

 

2pt       3pt       FT        F          TP

Chevy H           1          3          1/4       4          12

Alex B              1          0          0/0       4          2

Bobby S           1          1          0/0       1          5

Dakota R         3          0          4/6       2          10

Marcus H         2          0          5/7       2          9

Alec A             2          0          2/2       0          6

Team                10        3          12/19   13        44

Stanton 24        3          13/20   15        70

 

 

 

Northeast had an easy time defeating winless St Edward on Tuesday, January28.  They routed the Beavers 74-40.  This improved their record to 8-7.

 

St. Edward nailed two threes at the start of the game as they led 6-0.  It took 2:30 for the Cougars to take the lead.  Dakota Riecken scored twice before Chevy Henneman hit a three pointer which gave L-D the lead for good.  They had a 12-0 run before the next Beaver score.  The first quarter ended with the Cougars up by 21-12.

 

Northeast had a 17-3 run in the third quarter.  They hit 11 of 15 shots in the period top build a 60 to 26 lead  The fourth quarter was reserve time as 10 of the 14 points came from the bench.

 

Marcus Hegy led the scoring with 16 and rebounding with 8.  Dakota Riecken had 12 and  Chevy Henneman added 13 points.

 

Starter Bobby Simpson sat out most of the game with a leg injury.

 

St. Edward                   12        6          8          14        -40

LDNE                          21        14        25        14        -74

 

2pt       3pt       FT        Rb        F          TP
Chevy H           1          2          5/5       1          4          13

Alex B              4          0          1/2       6          0          9

Taylor F           4          0          0/1       1          0          8

Dakota R         5          0          2/4       7          1          12

Marcus H         6          0          4/5       8          2          16

David B            2          0          0/0       0          4          4

Montana R       1          0          2/3       0          0          4

Alec A             3          0          0/0       4          1          6

Tyler H 1          0          0/0       2          0          2

Cole C             0          0          0/o       1          0          0

Team                27        2          14/19   30        11        74

St. Edward       15        3          1/6       22        19        40