Cougars Season Comes to an End

By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor

The Northeast Cougars went into  the sub-district tournament having faced only two D-2 opponents during the season .  Playing a C-2 and D-1 schedule as a part of the EHC prepared them well for the play offs.  “We faced some tough teams during the year,” said Coach Lahm. “Three are going into district finals this week.  There aren’t many D-2 teams in this area, so we have to take on bigger schools with more depth, but it helps us a he season goes on.”

The Cougars took on (17-8) Wynot, a D-2 Top Ten team in the first round game at Ponca High School.  The contest went down to the final seconds with the Blue Devils winning by 51-48.  The coach said he was really proud of how the team played against the Blue Devils.

“We had the chance to take the lead in the minutes of the game,” said Lahm.  We blew two open lay ups when we were down by just one points.  After first the miss we played tough defense and got the ball back.  The second miss with 17 seconds left put us into a must foul position,”

Things did not look bright for the Cougars in the first half.  After falling behind 14-8 with eight minutes played,  Wynot’s lead expanded to ten points in the second quarter.  Then Chevy Henneman had a one man rally.  He personally had a 12-0 run and Northeast moved to a 20-18 lead.  Chevy had 17  of his game-high 25 points during the period.  Fifteen of his points came on three pointers.  His seven threes for the game ties a school record shared Jeremy Krumwiede and Jeremy Phillips.

Northeast took a 32-31 lead to the lockers after Wynot beat the buzzer for goal in the final seconds.

Northeast switched out of their usual man-to man defense to slow down the Blue Devils.  A 1-3-1 zone disrupted their shooting game as the teams battled in the second half. Wynot gained a six point advantage in the fourth quarter, but the Cougars did cut it to one point with the two chances to take  lead.

The season ends with Northeast sporting a 8-14 record.  Dylan Hardeman and Chevy Henneman are the two senior members of the squad.  Five sophomores and two juniors were in the rotation this year gaining experience to build on.

Wynot              14        17        12        8          -51

LDNE              8          24        9          7          -48

2pt       3pt       FT        Rb        F          TP

Henneman                    1          7          2/2       2          2          25

Riecken                        0          1          2/2       0          1          5

Whittaker                     0          1          0/0       0          2          3

Christiansen                  1          0          1/1       3          1          3

Hardeman                    0          0          3/4       2          4          3

Anderson                     3          0          3/6       6          1          9

Miller                           0          0          0/0       0          0          0

Christoffersen               0          0          0/0       3          3          0

Totals                           5          9          11/15   16        14        48