LINCOLN — Lincoln Northeast’s tradition is blue-collar basketball. But Saturday night, blue-chip Jasen Green brought down the Rockets.

The Creighton commit kicked it into gear for Millard North in the final three quarters, when the 6-foot-8 senior scored all but one of his game-high 28 points.

Early in the 71-55 win at Ed Johnson Gym, Green was content to distribute while being doubled by the Rockets. Then roles — and Northeast’s defense — changed when Mustang senior Nick Dolezal left in the second quarter with his second foul.

“They slowed up on the doubling,” Green said. “There wasn’t really a need for me to pass because if I ever have like one person on me, one person can’t guard me. They need to have multiple guys.

“I know that sounds a little bit conceited, but, I mean, it’s true.”

Green also had, by my count, six blocks, seven rebounds and three steals.

“The second half he had fabulous finishes to the basket that were really fun to watch. Because as good as he is, I didn’t know if he could quite reach where he was going and he still reached out and got it,” Mustang coach Tim Cannon said. “And he’s changing shots, blocking shots. He’s really good.”

No. 2 Millard North (11-1) continues to be unselfish with the ball, and when the blue-chip guy is looking to dish, the rest seem to follow.

“One guy hurt us, obviously,” Rocket coach Monte Ritchie said. “But I think it was a combination of different guys. It’s a really good team and it was a good challenge for us, but we came up short.”

Millard North had a hand in keeping anyone from Northeast (11-2) from getting a hot hand. Sixth man G Gatnoor had 10 of his 15 points in the final quarter, but those came after the eighth-ranked Rockets trailed by 15.

“Defensively they were really good. Give them credit,” Ritchie said. “Their press bothered us a little bit. We haven’t seen the press all year until, I guess, we saw it a little bit last night. But this was a little different press, you know, and they have athletes like that.

“But it’s a learning thing. And hopefully, we get another crack at them at some point. And I’m sure we’ll see some other presses. So it’s good to get that out of the way.”

Millard North went through that, Green said, last Tuesday when Papillion-La Vista South’s triangle-and-two defense bothered the Mustangs in a 61-58 home win.

“It was good to see, to know what to do when we see it again,” he said.

And in Class A basketball, that’s almost a certainty.

Millard North (11-1)...................19  14  17  21—71

At Lincoln Northeast (11-2).......13  11  14  17—55

MN: Jasen Green 28, David Harmon 13, Isaiah McMorris 9, Neal Mosser 6, Nick Dolezal 6, Jakson Page 5, Elijah Gaeth 4.

LNE: G Gatnoor 15, Porter Bazil 10, Carlos Valdez 7, Zander Beard 7, Christian Winn7, Jalen Lang 5, Adonis Jones 4.