• Photo Showcase: State tournament: Thursday

• Video: Highlights from the Hastings St. Cecilia and Tekamah-Herman game:



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LINCOLN — Class C-1 No. 2 Hastings St. Cecilia came out strong in the first round of the state tournament Thursday at Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln.

The two-time defending state champion Bluehawks got 22 points from Beau Schwenka, 17 from Dalton Sealey and 16 from Zach Sterup as they rolled to an 80-44 win over Tekamah-Herman.

"I think we wore them down a little at the beginning," Schwenka said. "I don't think they were ready to play at quite the fast-paced level that we wanted to play at. Our defense really got our offense going. Once we got to running on them, we got it inside to Zach and Paul (Goedert)."

Several other teams struggled with their shooting Thursday at Pershing. The Bluehawks (23-1) had no such problems. They were 16-for-19 in the opening half and 31-for-57 for the game.

That didn't surprise St. Cecilia head coach Kevin Asher.

"For some reason we've gone to bigger arenas — whether it's the Heartland Events Center, Pershing or Devaney — we've really shot well," Asher said. "Some of that may be because of the overall experience our kids have in those types of environments.

"We've played a lot of games in the state tournament. We've practiced at Hastings College quite a bit. That open back ground doesn't bother these kids. Any time you can play with that kind of comfort level on the offensive end, that gives you a great advantage."

Sophomore Trevor Bryant led Tekamah-Herman (20-5) with 22 points whiles senior Anders Olson had 12.

Tekamah-Herman coach Stan Mencke said the Tigers had a tough time handling St. Cecilia's pressure.

"St. Cecilia is one of the first teams we've played that really anticipated well in the passing lanes," Mencke said. "They ran things in the first half because they stepped in and stole the ball. I think once we got into our half-court offense we did some nice things, but when you have a defense like that it's tough."

Tekamah-Herman (20-5)......................11 9 11 13--44
Hastings SC (23-1)................................26 20 21 13--80
• TH: Tyler Panko 2, Christian Andrew 3, Jacob Bryant 5, Trevor Bryant 22, Anders Olson 12.
• HSC: Dalton Sealey 17, Matt Kissinger 5, Joe Ryan 6, Paul Goedert 6, Phil Hamburger 6, Beau Schwenka 22, Jordan Consbruck 1, Zach Sterup 16.

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