Cambridge rallies against Sutton

Cambridge's Matt Sexton (32) goes up for the rebound against Sutton's Josh Nuss (24) during Thursday's Nebraska Class C-2 state tournament first round game at Lincoln North Star High School Thursday evening. Cambridge rallied for a 54-47 victory. (Dior Azcuy/Lincoln Journal-Star) [Click to enlarge]

to Class C-2

state semifinals

LINCOLN -- The free throw line was a good friend for the Cambridge Trojans in their come-from-behind 54-47 win over the Sutton Mustangs in the first round of the Nebraska Class C-2 state boys basketball tournament Thursday.

The Trojans (23-1) went 14-for-15 from the foul line in the final 4:15, lifting them to the playoff win.

"They're big down here and when you have your back up against the wall you better respond, or you're going to go home," said Cambridge boys basketball coach Del Schoenfish.

The Trojans' Waid Vontz hit eight free throws down the stretch and 10-for-12 for the game en route to a game high 23 points.

"It's just routine by now," Vontz said of shooting foul shots. "Plus, I have a lot of confidence with it."

"Waid's got a lot of experience. He's played a lot of basketball the past two years," Schoenfish said of the sophomore. He pointed out Vontz's summer league play against older opponents as a maturation point. "He's a player, a gamer. A big player has to make big plays."

The game started out in the the first quarter as a back-and-forth low-scoring event. Sutton led 12-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Sutton led Cambridge by 11 points with about two minutes left before halftime.

However, Cambridge was able to make a small run in the final minutes of the half to cut Sutton's lead down to six, 31-25, at halftime.

"We played a little soft to start out, but that's a tribute to Sutton's defense," Schoenfish said.

At the half, Sutton's Jay Duncan led the Mustangs with 10 points.

A aggressive Cambridge defense kept Duncan scoreless in the second half.

The Trojans' defense stepped up for a knockout punch in the third quarter by holding Sutton to 6 points.

Even with the great defensive play, Cambridge couldn't convert the defense into points as they missed opportunities and shots, and only scored seven points in the third quarter.

Cambridge was down five, 37-32, going into the fourth quarter.

After buckets from Marcus Vontz, who finished with nine points, and Matt Depperschmidt, who added 14 points, Cambridge trailed 37-36 with 6:00 left to play.

Sutton took a timeout directly after Deppershmidt's basket to regroup. When the Mustangs came back onto the court, they went on a speedy 5-0 run in a 45 second time span to stretch their lead back to six, 42-36 with 4:50 left.

Waid Vontz stepped to the free throw line with 4:16 left. He made both of his foul shots to cut the Trojans' deficit to 44-40.

Less than a minute later, Sutton sent Depperschmidt to the foul line. He made both shots to bring Cambridge two points closer.

And with 1:36 left Marcus Vontz was fouled and sent to the charity stripe. He sank both of his free throws that gave Cambridge its first lead since the first quarter, 46-44 -- a lead the Trojans wouldn't relinquish.

Cambridge went 10-for-10 at the line in the final 45 seconds of the game and cruised into the semifinals on Friday.

Josh Nuss led Sutton with 15 points. Duncan added 10 and Kody Steinhauer 9 points.

Matt Sexton was big on the glass for Cambridge by grabbing 7 rebounds. Derik Light pulled down 6 rebounds.

"Our defense made a difference in the end," Schoenfish said. "We forced some steals and came up with some defensive stops."

With only a 17-hour window of rest before the start of their semi final game, Waid Vontz said some of the emotion from the Sutton game will drift into the morning.

"We'll take some of this excitement into tomorrow's game," he said. "But we'll get some rest tonight and get back at it tomorrow."

Cambridge played Ravenna at 11:30 a.m. Friday in Pershing Auditorium

Sutton: Hofmann 10, Nuss 15, Ehly 3, Duncan 10, Steinhauer 9.

Cambridge: Marcus Vontz 9, Waid Vontz 23, Lytle 4, Depperschmidt 14, Light 4.