The Wayne Blue Devils had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 15.4 points), and they went ahead and made it nine on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Norfolk Catholic 48-45. Given Wayne's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 33rd, while Norfolk Catholic is ranked 94th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Colson Nelsen continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 21 points along with three steals. The contest was his third in a row with at least ten points. Caiden Backer was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with six rebounds.
Norfolk Catholic's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Max Hammond, who scored 17 points along with three steals, and Aiden Corr who scored ten points along with five rebounds. Those ten points set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Hayden Kelley, who scored five points.
Wayne's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-2. As for Norfolk Catholic, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-5.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Wayne's road trip will continue as they head out to face Boone Central at 5:30 p.m. on January 6th. Norfolk Catholic won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Battle Creek at 7:45 p.m. on January 5th.
