If there's one thing that has been consistent for coach Josh Luedtke and his Omaha Creighton Prep basketball team during the last month, it has been the need to be up for every big game.

The fifth-ranked Junior Jays host No. 1 Omaha Central at 7:15 tonight, the Junior Jays' fifth game in 23 days against a Top 10 team. Another game in that span was against Kansas City power Bishop Miege. Prep has gone 4-3 during that stretch, including a 71-62 loss at second-ranked Lincoln Southeast on Saturday night. In the four wins, the Junior Jays have given up an average of 47.3 points, including 64 against Omaha South in an overtime win. In the three losses, they allowed an average of 67.7 points.

“I think we've just been inconsistent, and most inconsistent on the defensive side of the ball,” Luedtke said. “We're not going to win a lot of games if we're giving up 68 to 75 points a game. We've got to get defensive stops.”

That will be vital for the Junior Jays tonight against Central. The Eagles, coming off two weekend wins against Top 10 teams, have been held to fewer than 60 points only twice since the first of the year.

They're averaging 69.8 in their eight games against current Top 10 teams. And that doesn't include a 79-54 win over Class B No. 1 Omaha Skutt.

“We can't let Deverell Biggs have any shot he wants,” Luedtke said. “We can't let Sean McGary and Josh Hackett get open shots and do their thing. We have to work hard to be aggressive defensively.”

And the Junior Jays can't settle for 3-pointers, he added. They were 2 of 16 in 3-pointers against Southeast.

“I think we just have to be a little more patient and try to get the best shot we can,” he said. “We can get a lot of 3-point looks in a possession. It doesn't have to be the first 3 we see.

“There are times like against Omaha Benson (Prep won 82-44), when we look really good. Then there are times when you get out there and play against teams like Central and Southeast, and they make us look really bad.”

Bryan's Imig out for year

Omaha Bryan starting guard Ben Imig will miss the rest of the season after suffering two broken bones in his shooting wrist 10 days ago, coach Tim Cannon said Monday.

He was injured in a collision against Papillion-La Vista South late last month.

No. 3 Bryan held out hope that the four-year varsity contributor could return around state tournament time. Imig has been receiving interest from Dordt, Northwest Missouri State and some junior college programs.

In his absence, the Bears lost by two points to Omaha Central and beat then-No. 1 Norfolk 60-55. Telly Mason, Imig's replacement, had 11 points and six assists against Norfolk. Joe Imig, Ben's younger brother, was the first player off the bench against Central.

Those two, along with Chris Kerwin, will see increased roles. “I have faith in those guys,” Cannon said. “They're just in different roles now.”

No more wrestling for Prep's Mizaur

It appears there's one less contender for the Class A 189-pound wrestling title.

Creighton Prep's Nick Mizaur is done for the season with a pelvis injury that kept him out for the first two months of the season. Mizaur stopped after his only tournament, when he was pinned three times at Skutt's Jesse Greise Invitational two weekends ago.

Mizaur signed a football letter of intent last week to play running back at Brown University.

“Because he is playing college football, he needed to completely heal his injury and avoid reinjuring himself,” his dad, Nicholas Mizaur, said Monday in an e-mail. “It was a very hard decision for him to make. However, it is the best decision for his athletic future.”

Mizaur was the preseason No. 1 at 189.

Another heartbreaker for Bellevue East

The difference in Saturday's Bellevue East-Kearney boys basketball game?

“A split second,” East coach Jason Ryan said.

Kearney won 75-73 in overtime when it was ruled that a basket by Bellevue East's Tyson Reeves came after the buzzer. Kearney had hit a 3-pointer with less than three seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

It was the third close loss in 14 days for the Chieftains, who are missing two starters because of injuries. Losses to Central and Bryan came by five and six points.

Post John Mathews and guard Andrew Moritz, both seniors, have missed the past two weeks. Mathews has torn cartilage; Moritz has a stress fracture in a foot.

“Both those guys are kind of our tough guys,” Ryan said. “But we've definitely had some guys step up.”

Reeves is one of those guys. Having moved from sixth man to starter, the senior is averaging 15 points during his past four contests, including 23 against Kearney.

— Nick Rubek

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