Cougars Enter Last Week of Season With 14-7 Record

By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor

The Cougars are going into the final week of the regular season with a 14-7 record.  With one non-conference opponent to go their EHC showing is 8 wins and 6 losses.  A road game at (8-12) Emerson-Hubbard is their final contest before sub-districts.

The Cougars have earned the number one seed in D-1 Sub-district #3.  They will play the winner of Omaha Christian Academy versus Omaha Nation on February 23 at Fremont Middle School.

The final game for Cougar basketball on the Lyons court was a memorable one.  Northeast had  to overcome feisty group from Wisner-Pilger and the loss of their leading scorer before claiming a 47-42 win.

Wisner-Pilger had the Cougar’s number in the first quarter.  Combining some sharp out side shooting with a high-low attack in the paint the Gator claimed a 17-10 first quarter lead. They buried three bombs and caught a confused zone defense napping for three lay-ins.

Alec Anderson had scored the last two baskets for LDNE when he took a feed at the elbow and headed to basket with 18 seconds left in the quarter.  Northeast’s leading scorer took a finger to the eye and collapsed to the floor.  He would not return to the game.

Northeast needed someone to step up to replace Anderson and his 20 points average.  In the second quarter Tyler Hardeman quietly scored four times.  His ten  points in the game was four times his 2.5 average.

Hunter  Ferguson also gave the team a boost.  His trey at the 6:40 mark of the second period tied the score at 17.  With less than three minutes left another trey gave Northeast a 24-23 lead.

The Cougars had figured the high-low attack and took a 27-23 half time lead.

Wisner-Pilger had a strong start in the third quarter.  The opened with six unanswered points.  With 4:55 LDNE got its first score as Cole Christoffersen banged in a bucket to tie the score at 29.  Scores by Christoffersen and Hardeman were all  Northeast could add to their total but they led 33-32 with eight minutes to play.

Northeast got some breathing room as Marcus Hegy got four points and Hunter Ferguson got his third trey of the night.  With 5:10 to play Northeast held a 40-32 lead.

After six straight missed shots the Gators got on a roll and scored  seven  points to pull to within three points, 42-39.  Hunter Ferguson snuck behind their full court press to real a long pass and score a lay-in to keep Northeast up by five at the one minute warning.

A pair of misses on one-and-one opportunities kept Wisner-Pilger ‘s hopes alive when Logan Godbersen  nailed a trifecta to make it a 44-42 game with 17seconds left.  Montana Riecken closed out the game by converting on a one-and-one, making a timely rebound, and sinking the 47th point with 8 seconds left.

Two bench players would be the high scorers for Northeast.  Tyler Hardeman had ten points.  Hunter Ferguson had a team-high eleven points.

The Cougars shot a nifty 64% for the game.  They made 16 of 24 two-pointers and were successful on 3 of 5 from behind the arc.

Wisner-Pilger 17 6 9 10 -42
LDNE 10 17 6 14 -47

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 1 0 3/4 2 0 5
O’Connor 0 0 0 1 0 0
Christiansen 0 0 0 2 0 0
Hegy 3 0 3/4 2 1 9
Ferguson 1 3 0/1 1 1 11
Anderson 2 0 0 2 0 4
Hardeman 5 0 0 3 2 10
Christoffersen 3 0 2/3 8 2 8
LDNE 16/23 3/5 6/10 22 6 47
Wisner-Pilger 8/24 7/20 5/6 17 16 42

A road trip to Scribner put the Cougars up against the Logan View/Scribner-Snyder combined team.  The Raiders had a turn-around year with 13-8 record.

A triangle-and-two defense was LV/SS’s plan to nullify Alec Anderson and point guard Montana Riecken.  Riecken had a guard in his face at all times and LV/SS did not want Anderson to touch the ball.  The plan worked well in the first quarter as the Raiders scored three times off of six turnovers and Anderson got only one shot.   LV/SS led 15-3 after one quarter.

Anderson got his only points of the night with a make at the 6:05 mark of the second period.   LDNE was down 13-7.  Four Raider treys made for a 25-14 half time score.

A change of baskets did the Cougar good.  They outscored LV/SS 14-6.  Using Anderson a decoy gave Christoffersen and Hardeman open shots and Marcus Hegy came alive with 10 points. with two threes and a pair of drives past the taller Raiders.  Northeast found themselves back in the game, 31-28.

Jon Christiansen’s basket brought Northeast to within one point of the lead before the Raiders ran off five straight points.  Hegy maneuvered through the Raider zone for a deuce and Christiansen got a trey from the corner as LDNE had a 36-35 deficit.  A pair of bombs by LV/SS  were countered by a pair of baskets by Hegy.  The second score was pure “Michael Jordanish”  as he switched  hands in midair and spun the ball off the glass on a reverse lay-up.  Northeast found themselves down 42-39 with 2:05 to play.

After Cole Christoffersen made one of two free shots Northeast had ninety seconds left in a 42-40 game.  Northeast had a couple of  chances to tie the score before a free shot by  the Raiders boosted the lead to three with 1:11 left.  Hegy made one  of two with 36 seconds left and the Raiders missed on a one-and-one at the 29.6 mark.

Northeast came out of a timeout with 9.6 left, but a trey by Hegy came up short.  Christoffersen fouled with 1.2 second left.  LV/SS missed the free shot, but Northeast could not get a shot off as the 43-41 lead held.

After the game Coach Lahm commented about closing minutes of the game.  “We had a couple of chances to take the lead, but failed to take care of the ball and get the score.  With tournament ball coming up we need to be aware of how important each possession is at the end of the game.  With only one game next week this one of the things we are going to work at during practice.”

This was a career-high game for Marcus Hegy.   He had 27  points with  seventeen coming in the second half.

Northeast had four more two pointers than the Raiders.  LV/SS had 9 three-pointers to LDNE’s 5.  Northeast made only 6 of 12 free shots.

LDNE 5 9 14 13 -41
LV/SS 13 12 6 12 -43

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 0 0 0 5 1 0
O’Connor 0 0 0 1 1 0
Christiansen 1 1 0 0 3 5
Hegy 5 4 5/10 6 3 27
Ferguson 0 0 0 1 2 0
Anderson 1 0 0 5 1 2
Hardeman 1 0 0 1 1 2
Christoffersen 2 0 1/2 3 5 5
LDNE 10/19 5/12 6/12 24 17 41
LV/SS 6/17 9/18 4/8 20 15 43