Northeast Cougars Stretch Winning Streak

By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor

Northeast’s Cougars stretched their winning streak to eight games with wins over Wakefield and Tekamah-Herman this week.  In a battle of top ten teams on Saturday,  the Cougar boys stumbled in a road contest at Mead.

After their three games this week, a 61-53 conquest of Wakefield and a 60-43 win over Tekamah-Herman along with the 53-34 loss to Mead the LDNE Cougars have an 8-2 record.

Streaky shooting Wakefield provided more of a contest than their 3-9 record would suggest.   They hit  three of their first five shots and held a lead until the 1:38 mark of the opening period when Montana Riecken’s goal put Northeast on top. Later, Riecken’s bomb and a basket by Jacob Whitaker produced a tie at the end of the period, 13-13.

The Trojans got a five point jump on the Cougars at the start of the second period.   Riecken’s three and  Cole Christoffersen’s  two free throws tied the score.  Christoffersen got a put back at the 4:30 mark to establish a LDNE lead,  20-18.  Two short shots from the baseline by Hunter Ferguson kept the Maroon on top.  Riecken got his third trey of the half and Alec Anderson broke free from the Wakefield box-and one defense to end the half’s scoring with a three point play and a lay-in for a 32-27 lead.

Wakefield opened the third quarter with a 13-0 run.  They made 5 of 8 shots while Northeast missed on six straight offensive possessions.  The Cougar’s dry spell continued until the 3:05 mark when Alec Anderson scored leaving the Cougars trailing 40-34.  Christoffersen and Anderson got baskets in the remaining minutes of the quarter.  Wakefield out scored Northeast 21 to 6 thanks to the help of five three pointers.

Northeast found themselves trailing by 12 points when the Trojans scored on their opening possession of the fourth quarter.  Marcus Hegy’s trey would start a rally that would produce an eight point win for LDNE.  Christoffersen scored two from the paint and point guard Montana Riecken attacked the lane and scored on two free shots and a three point play.  Northeast trailed 51-50.

While Wakefield struggled from the floor the Cougars continued to surge.  Marcus Hegy completed the comeback with a trey with 3:22 left.  With Northeast on top 53-51 Alec
Anderson added four more points and Montana Riecken iced the game with a pair of free shots.  Wakefield’s hot hand cooled with only two baskets in the fourth period.  They only made two of ten shots from the field and were 0 or 6 from beyond the arc.

In was a big night for Montana Riecken.  The junior point guard had a career-high 18 points to lead the team.  Marcus Hegy score eight of his ten points in the fourth quarter.  Alec Anderson battled Wakefield’s gadget defense to finish with 15 points.  Cole Christoffersen finished with 12 points.

Wakefield 13 14 21 5 -53
LDNE 13 19  6 23 -61

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken         2 3 5/5 4 2 18
O’Connor 0 0 0 5 2 0
Christiansen 0 0 0 1 0 0
Whitaker 1 0 0 0 0 2
Hegy 1 2 2/2 6 4 10
Ferguson 2 0 0 3 1 4
Anderson 5 0 5/6 6 2 15
Hardeman 0 0 0 2 0 0
Christoffersen 5 0 2/2 6 2 12
LDNE 16 5 14/15 33 13 61
Wakefield 9 9 8/12 17 15 53

The (2-9) Tekamah-Herman Tigers found the going tough in the first quarter.  They committed 8 turnovers and it deep into the period before they got a shot off.  In the meantime, Marcus Hegy scored three times and the Cougars took an 11-0 lead.

Hegy continued his offensive show with nine more points in the second quarter.  LDNE had a 29-14 lead at he half.

After intermission the Cougar offense took a six minute break.  T-H turned to a half court trap and six turnovers, two offensive fouls and five missed shots gave the T-H crowd some hope as the Tigers closed to within eight points, 29-21.   Point guard Montana Riecken picked up his fourth foul and without him the offense was in disarray.   Alec Anderson got a pair of free shots for Northeast’s first score.  LDNE closed with a flourish as Anderson scored again and Hegy added a pair of treys.  The Cougars were up by thirteen, 39-26.

Alec Anderson scored three times to start the fourth period.   Cole Christoffersen’s two and Marcus Hegy’s three made it 50-29 .  Coach Lahm turned to his reserves to close out the game.  Goals by Jon Christiansen, Nick Ronnfeldt and two free throws by Hunter Ferguson gave Lyons-Decatur a 56-32 lead.  The Tigers surged with eleven points  and the game ended with a 60-43 score.

Marcus Hegy had a career-high 24 points to pace LDNE.  Alec Anderson notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Northeast out shot Tekamah-Herman 58% to  25%.  The Cougars made22 of 38 shots.  The Tigers made 13 of 52 shots.   Northeast out rebounded T-H 39 to 29.

T-H 2 11 13 17 -43
LDNE 11 18 10 21 -60

2pt 3Pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken         1 0 1/2 1 4 3
O’Connor 0 0 0/2 1 2 0
Christiansen 3 0 0/1 5 2 6
Whitaker 0 0 1/2 1 2 1
Hegy 6 3 3/4 8 0 24
Ferguson 0 1 2/4 2 3 5
Ronnfeldt 1 0 1/2 2 1 3
Anderson 5 0 4/8 11 2 14
Hardeman 1 0 0 3 2 2
Christoffersen 1 0 0 4 1 2
LDNE 18 4 12/24 39 20 60
T-H 7 6 11/20 29 23 43

A pair of 8-1 teams clashed on Saturday at Mead.  Fresh off of wins over Parkview Christian and Yutan the Raiders were t the top of their game when the Cougars came to town.

Northeast drew first blood in the game as Alec Anderson opened the scoring.  Later he added a free throw.  Mead led 7-3 at the end of the quarter.

The Cougars spent the rest of the half trying to catch up with the Raiders.  After Anderson closed the score to 6-7 with a three point play Mead opened a six point lead.  Treys by Ferguson and Hegy halved the margin. Two free throws by Hegy made the score 16-19.  Montana Riecken tied the score at 19 with the Cougar’s third trifecta of the period.  Mead answered with a three pointer just before half.   Mead 22  LDNE 19.

Mead had  7-2 jump on the Cougars as the second half started.  Alec Anderson’s goal followed two Mead scores.   Christoffersen’s basket and Hegy’s free throw made it 29-24. Two Christoffersen free thrown matched a Mead basket.  Riecken followed with a trey and it was 31-29.  A basket by Anderson was the lone points for LDNE as the Raiders closed with a 7-2 run to take a 38-31 lead into the fourth period.

The fourth quarter did not go well for Northeast.  Hegy fouled out and the Cougars only scored three points as Mead pulled away for a 53-34 win.

Alec Anderson led Northeast with 15 points.  Riecken and Hegy had 6,  Christoffersen 4 and Ferguson 3.  Mead  was led by Tristan Hoover with 20 and Dylan Taylor with 13.

LDNE 3 16 12 3 -34
Mead 7 15 16 15 -53

2pt 3pt FT F TP
Riecken         0 2 0 2 6
O’Connor 0 0 0 2 0
Whitaker 0 0 0 1 0
Hegy 0 1 3/4 5 6
Ferguson 0 1 0 0 3
Anderson 6 0 3/5 3 15
Christoffersen 1 0 2/2 3 5
LDNE 7 4 8/11 16 34
Mead 15 4 11/15 13 53