KEARNEY – The Stars dominated from the start of the second round matchup in the Class C1-11 Sub-District tournament, dominating Holdrege and ending the Dusters season with a 81-33 win. Click here to listen to the broadcast.
Holdrege entered the contest with confidence after playing some of their best basketball on the season with a win Monday night over Gothenburg. That confidence showed after Kearney Catholic won the opening tip and got a quick inside score from senior Logan O’Brien, as the Dusters’ Hudson Reed knocked down a three pointer. Holdrege led for the first time in the contest, but fell back after another quick strike from the Stars. Kearney Catholic never relinquished their lead from this point on, as the Stars used a balanced inside-outside approach to open shots from beyond the arc.
The attacks at the basket from O’Brien and other Stars, including Brett Mahony, Dylan Merz, and Garrett Schmaderer, opened up some outside looks for Blake Thiele who knocked down two three pointers in the opening eight minutes. Holdrege added another four points, but was unable to slow down the Stars trailing 22-7 at the end of the first.
Kearney Catholic ran away in the second quarter with their lead, dominating with the same style of play as seen in the first. Holdrege battled back however, as Dashton Edgren began heating up beyond the arc with 3 triples and aided by a downtown shot from Jackson Hinrichs as well. The Dusters were outscored in the quarter 22-12 however, and their deficit grew to 44-19.
Kearney Catholic continued keeping their starters in to start the third quarter until gaining a 40 point advantage to run the game time continuously the rest of the contest. Holdrege was able to add a few more shots before time expired on the season, adding another three pointer was Edgren and Hinrichs, but the Dusters could not stop the stampede of Kearney Catholic. The Holdrege season ends with an 81-33 loss to the Stars.
Kearney Catholic improves to 21-2 on the season and faces the 8 win Cozad Haymakers in the Sub-District final Thursday night. The Stars had contributions from O’Brien with 14 points, Thiele adding 11 points, Mahony finished with 10 points, Mason Mandernach with 9 points, Turner Plugge added 8 points, Jaden Seier and Merz ended with 7 points, Creighton Sharp had 5 points, and Koren Conrad had 2 points.
Holdrege finishes their season at 4-17. The Dusters had contributions from Edgren with 14 points, Hinrichs with 6 points, Kaden Broeker had 4 points, Reed finished with 3 points, and Trace Anderson, Jaxson Karn, and Adam Shearer finished with 2 points.
