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Hayes Center won't look ahead at state
HAYES CENTER -- The Hayes Center boys are making their third straight trip to the Nebraska State High School Basketball Championships.
This year is a little different situation for the Cardinals, and they are hoping the third time is charms to reach that goal of playing on center stage Saturday.
Coach Louis Cuellar's team has finished third at state in each of the past two years. Although Hayes Center's goal is like every other team in Lincoln this weekend -- a state championship -- The Cards know that no game is more important than the next one.
That next one for Hayes Center is a battle with defending state champion Sterling Thursday in first-round D-2 state tournament action. Tip-off is set for 8:45 p.m. at the Lincoln Northeast High School gym.
Hayes Center, 21-2, is seeded fifth in the Class D-2 state meet field, while Sterling, 19-5, is the fourth seed. The Jets won the D-2 state title last season with a 49-48 win over Ewing in the finals. Hayes Center lost to Ewing, 65-50, in the semifinals, then claimed the third-place trophy with a one-point win over Hay Springs in the consolation finals.
The Cardinals also finished third in the 2008 Class D-1 state tournament before dropping down a class.
Focused on Thursday's foe
Hayes Center is facing different circumstances entering this year's state tournament. The only thing on the minds of the Cardinals is Thursday's foe.
"In the last two years we've been a one or two seed, and our first-round games have been against the lower seeds, and we've handled them quite well," Cuellar said. "This year we're in a different role. We are the underdog and we've got the defending state champions in our first round game. So anything past Thursday night means nothing until we take care of Thursday night, first and foremost.
"The kids know that, and yes, every kids' dream is to play on Saturday. But these kids know that they have to take care of business Thursday night before they worry about anything else. They're a pretty focuses group of young men and they'll make sure that when they step on that floor, they'll take care of business."
Tough defenses
Cuellar said Sterling has several solid backcourt players and a returning all-state center, and he expects the Jets to play tough man defense with full-court pressure.
"They're pretty good. It's going to be a tough matchup, but any time you get down to Lincoln you're more than likely going to get tough matchups," he said. "Their guards are pretty solid, they shoot ball extremely well, their man defense is probably the most in-your-face defense that we will have seen played against us, so we're going to have to be ready.
"The one thing I started thinking about, they've got something we want, and until they get beat they're still the defending state champs."
Hayes Center plays pretty tough defense as well.
"One thing I've always said is our defense is sometimes our best offense and we get a lot of transition buckets," Cuellar said. "We're not the best half-court team. We'd rather force teams to play full-court because that plays more into our strength, because of our quickness and our athleticism. Anytime teams try to slow us down, that tends to give us some problems. Our full-court game is what we pride ourselves on, and our defense is by far what we pride ourselves on. That's the strength of the group of kids that I have."
Hayes Center averages 73 points per game. The Cards have held 18 of their 23 opponents to 45 points or less.
Close losses
Hayes Center's losses included a 42-39 setback to Class D-1 Wauneta-Palisade in the RPAC tournament semifinals in Wauneta Jan. 29, and a 56-51 decision to C-2 North Platte St. Pat's in the regular-season finale at North Platte Feb. 19
"Wauneta-Palisade, it was on their home floor. We didn't come out and play very well," Cuellar said. "A lot of that credit goes to Coach (Dave) Kuhlen and his group of kids because they knew to beat us they had to slow us down. I never dreamed that we'd score 39 points in a game. They did what they needed to do to beat us and I commend them on that."
The Hayes Center coach said his team lost their composure in the loss to St. Pat's.
"When we lost our composure, we made plays that just completely hurt us, and we cannot afford to lose our composure," he said. "We just didn't make plays down the stretch. But that was the best eye-opening game of the year for us, because ever since that game we've put together three real good games. Our last two games have probably been the best two games we've played all year, or at least two of the better games."
Hayes Center swept through the D2-10 Sub-District with wins over Wallace (79-25) and Paxton (74-37). The Cards then ran past Sumner-Eddyville-Miller 83-65 in the D2-5 District Final at North Platte March 2.
Senior leadership
Cuellar has four seniors on the roster, and all four -- 6-0 Keifer Messersmith, 6-2 Tyler Clifford, 6-2 Brady Rosno and 5-11 Alex Wach -- are starters and key players for the Cards. Tyler Rehbein, a 6-1 sophomore, is the other starter, and 6-3 sophomores Michael Bishop and Adam Lawson are the first players off the bench.
Most of the Cardinals were members of a successful Hayes Center football team last fall. The Cards made another trip to Lincoln, to play in the Class D-2 state championship game at Memorial Stadium. Cuellar hopes his roundball squad that duplicate that feat with a berth in the finals Saturday for the chance to play on the big state in the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
"These kids have played in big games, they've played in big environments, they've won big games," Cuellar said. "We've had great senior classes the last couple years. This group of seniors right now have always kind of been on the coattails of the seniors past. They've kind of got a different demeanor about themselves, because they are ready to prove that they are just as good, if not better than the groups before them.
"They are going out to prove themselves to the previous players, to the community, and everybody that they are just as good as the previous groups. I've had some tremendous seniors, and these kids are right up there with them. Nobody really thought that they'd make it as far as they did in football, but they played for a state championship (losing in the finals to Humphrey St. Francis). They are battlefield tested, they know what it takes, and they've just got that demeanor about themselves, ready to go out and prove themselves. But the first step is, we've got to take care of Sterling before we can worry about the rest of the games."
The big arena
Hayes Center has not played a state tournament game in the Devaney Center in the past two years, as the semifinal and third-place games have been either at Pershing Auditorium or at one of the Lincoln high school gyms used for state tourney action.
"It's just like the kids wanted to play at Memorial Stadium in football -- that's your goal and your dream ever since you were little," Cuellar said. "Basketball wise, you want to play at Devaney, you want to play where the big dogs play. That's everybody's dream.
"But it all starts Thursday."