Cougars Win Two Drop One

January 28, 2016 Leave a comment


By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor

The Cougar boys took on three quality opponents this week and came out with two wins and one loss.  Northeast had home wins against Cedar Bluffs and Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family, but lot on the road to Stanton.

“This is a big week for us,” said Coach Lahm.  “Seedings for the East Husker tournament will be set after this weekend and depending how we fare could have a big impact on where were sit.  We could be as high as fourth and have a first round home game or drop to tenth.”

The Cougars met a physical match when (8-8) Cedar Bluffs came to town.  The Wildcats had a pair of 6′ 4″ posts  to challenge Anderson and Christoffersen and  sharp shooting guards that would stretch the L-D 1-3-1 zone.

Both teams attacked the paint. Northeast got three baskets by Alec Anderson and a three point play by Cole Christoffersen to take a 9-6 lead over Cedar Bluffs who had three scores from the lane.  The Wildcats nailed a pair of threes along with a driving lay-in to move to a five point lead.  In the last minute of period one Anderson came up with a pair of free shots and Tyler Hardeman scored to make it a one point game.  Cedar Bluffs beat the buzzer for a 16-13 lead.

The Cougars caught a break when one the Wildcat’s tall tandem picked up a second foul and sat the whole second period.   The Cougars moved out to a 32-21 half time lead. Alec Anderson came up with seven points.  5’10” Marcus Hegy was able to penetrate and score three times along with a three pointer.

Both teams were back at full strength after intermission and the pace of the game slowed as both teams played very deliberate office.  Cedar Bluffs blocked three shots and the Cougars made only one of nine shots.  Anderson’s goal and pair of free shots were the only Northeast scores while Cedar Bluffs came up with a 11 points including another buzzer beating three pointer for a 36-32 score.

The teams traded treys to open the fourth period before Cedar Bluffs tied the score after two straight baskets.  Alec Anderson made one of two free shots with 4:01 to play to break the tie.  Two minutes later Cole Christoffersen grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for a 42-40 lead.

Anderson got some breathing room with three point play with 1:14 to play.  Northeast led 45-41.  Cedar Bluffs’ sixth trey of the game made it a one point game again.  Marcus Hegy made both ends of a one and one for the winning 47-44 margin.

Alec Anderson score a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds.  Marcus Hegy added 12 point.

Cedar Bluffs shot 39 % for the game on 18 for  46 shooting.   The Cougar made 16 of 36 for 44%.  The Cougars won the rebounding battle  31 to 21.

Cedar Bluffs  16 5 11 12 -44
LDNE 13 18 4 11 -47

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 0 1 0 3 1 3
O’Connor 0 0 0 3 2 0
Christiansen 1 0 0/1 2 2 2
Hegy 3 1 3/4 3 1 12
Anderson 7 0 8/11 11 0 22
Hardeman 1 0 0 2 0 0
Christoffersen 2 0 1/1 7 3 5
LDNE 14/33 2/4 13/17 31 9 47
Cedar Bluffs 12/27 6/19 2/4 21 13 44

The Cougars used a one -two punch to score a first period knock down on the way to a 63-49 win over (9-6) Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family.

Alec Anderson scored the first fourteen points for the Cougars as the Bulldogs tried to play Northeast straight up on defense.  After they changed to a box-and-one defense to stop Anderson the Cougars turned to Marcus Hegy who scored the next nine points for a 23-9 lead at the quarter.

The rest of the quarters resulted in no change in the deficit.  In the second quarter Hegy and Christoffersen scored four each and Hunter Ferguson closed the period with a trey.

After intermission the scoring slowed to six points per team.  Christoffersen scored twice and Riecken added a basket.

H/LHF never could break the double digit lead in the fourth quarter.  Anderson came back to life with two goals  and Hegy scored three times as Northeast led 50-35.  The last two minutes LDNE made eleven of thirteen tries.  Riecken made four of five, Hegy made three of four and Christiansen and Anderson converted a pair.

Marcus Hegy had a game-high 22 points to lead Northeast.  Alec Anderson put in 20 points.  Cole Christoffersen had a double-double with10 points and 10 rebounds.

The taller Cougars held  a 33-19 advantage in rebounding.  Northeast put up 43 shots and made 22.  The Bulldogs shot 53 times and made only 19.

Humphrey/LHF 9 11 6 23 -49
LDNE 23 11 6 23 -63

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 1 0 4/5 3 2 6
O’Connor 0 0 0 2 1 0
Christiansen 0 0 2/2 1 3 2
Hegy 6 1 7/9 5 3 22
Ferguson 0 1 0 1 2 3
Anderson 7 1 3/3 9 2 20
Ronnfeldt 0 0 0 1 1 0
Christoffersen 5 0 0 10 2 10
LDNE 18/32 3/11 15/19 33 16 63
H/LHF 15/37 4/16 5/7 19 20 49

The Cougars dropped their Saturday game at Stanton by the score of 69-58.  Northeast led at the half 29-26, but the third period did them in.  The (14-4) Mustangs outscored LDNE 24-11 in the third quarter.

Stanton had four player in double figures.  More stats nest week.

LDNE 15 14 11 18 -58
Stanton 16 10 24 19 -69

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Cougars Win Two, Raise Record to 2-1

December 16, 2015 Leave a comment


By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor
The Cougar boys raised their record to 2-1 with a pair of wins during the second week of the basketball season.  They took down Winside by the score of 48-31 and Clarkson/Leigh by four points, 51-47.

Alec Anderson put on a show against Winside.  He scored the first six points of the game.  After Winside got on the board he followed up with three more scores including a crowd pleasing two hand slam after he made a steal at mid court.  Anderson finished with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots.

Winside 4 7 15 5 -31
LDNE 17 7 12 13 -48

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 0 1 1-2 7 0 4
O’Connor 0 0 0 2 1 0
Christiansen 1 0 0 3 1 2
Whitaker 0 0 0 1 1 0
Ferguson 1 1 0 1 1 5
Anderson 14 0 1-2 14 2 29
Hardeman 0 0 0 4 1 0
Christoffersen 4 0 0 5 3 8
LDNE 20-36 2/7 2/5 35 9 48
Winside 10/28 3/16 2/4 15 11 31

The match up against Clarkson /Leigh went down to the final minute to determine the winner.  The Cougars had a nine point lead in the third period, but it melted away in the fourth quarter.  The Patriots took the lead with 3:45 to play Northeast outscored them 8 to 4 in the last two minutes to claim the win.

The first period had two ties and four lead changes.  Alec Anderson put the Cougars on top 10-9 and sent he Cougars to the second period with a three point lead with another bucket.

Northeast went nearly five and one-half minutes without a score in the second quarter.  The Patriots took the lead with seven unanswered points.  Jon Christiansen broke the draught with a score at the 2:39 mark.  Three seconds later a steal ended with Cole Christoffersen making a game-tying  lay-in.  Marcus Hegy’s drive of the lane put LDNE on top 45 seconds to play.  Christoffersen’s goal made it 22-20 at the half.

A 9-2 run  for the Cougars started the second half.  Christoffersen, O’Connor, Riecken, and Anderson scored.  Two quick threes by the Patriots cut the lead to three.  The lead was down to two when Montana Riecken scored with to two seconds left.  Northeast took a 38-34 lead into the fourth quarter.

Clarkson/Leigh scored twice in the first minute of the period to tie the score.  At the 6:45 mark Hunter Ferguson nailed a three which the Patriots countered for another tie.  Alec Anderson’s bucket made it 43-41.  C/L’s Mundil gave the Patriots a 44-43 advantage with 3:45 to play.

Northeast went to their ace to take a 45-44 lead.  Anderson drove the baseline for the go-ahead score with 2:10 left.

Both teams would have opportunities to claim a win, but neither team could cash in.  C/L missed a pair of threes and the Cougars missed two free shots and muffed a pass under the basket.  The Patriots missed a driving shot at the 41 second mark and intentionally fouled Anderson after he rebounded the miss.  The senior calmly sank both shots.

After a Clarkson/Leigh miss Montana Riecken was fouled with 14.5 seconds to play.  The Cougar’s point guard nailed both ends of the one-and-one for a  49-44 lead.  The Patriots were not done.  They hit a three with 8.7 to play.  Riecken was fouled on the inbounds and faced another bonus situation.   Once against he made both for the final 51-47 score.

Northeast had two finish in double figures.  Anderson had 18 points and Riecken had 12.  The Cougars shot 58% to 38% for the Patriots.  Northeast held a 34 to 19 advantage in rebounds.

C/L 9 11 14 13 -47
LDNE 12 10 16 13 -51

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 4 0 4-4 5 1 12
O’Connor 1 0 0 3 1 2
Christiansen 1 0 0-1 1 1 2
Hegy 34 0 0 6 3 6
Ferguson 0 1 0 0 0 3
Anderson 7 0 4-4 10 4 18
Hardeman 0 0 0 1 1 0
Christoffersen 4 0 0-7 8 2 8
LDNE 20/34 1/4 8/17 34 13 51
C/L 11/21 7/27 4/4 19 13 47

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