Staff photo by Ari Selvey Cedar Mountain’s Thomas Dahmes (20) Cruises to the lane for a layup during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division boys basketball game against Wabasso Friday at Cedar Mountain High School.

MORGAN — Cedar Mountain flipped the script on Wabasso as it held the high-flying Rabbits to 62 points in an 84-62 Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division boys basketball win Friday.

Wabasso came into the game averaging 81.7 points per game, and Cedar Mountain was able to hold the Rabbits to their second-lowest points total of the season.

“It was teamwork and we believed in each other,” Cedar Mountain’s Thomas Dahmes said. “In practice we always try to trust each other as much as we can and we had a pretty good gameplan coming in.”

Cedar Mountain head coach Brian Pendleton said that slowing down the game was key to keeping the Wabasso scoring down

“I think the second half in particular, we played a much better defense,” Pendleton said. “First half I think we kind of got caught in the up-and-down game. We’re trying to play more in the half court ourselves. But the second half we settled down and we made them play a half-court game. We played better defense in the second half.

Despite the slower pace, eighth-ranked Cedar Mountain still put up a strong offensive game.

“I think when they’re picking up full [court], that makes us push the ball,” Pendleton said. “Then we get into our offense much quicker. I thought that some possessions we shot a little too quick, but in the end we started making shots and we weren’t settling for 3s. We were getting it into the post and hitting cutters, so it worked out for us.”

When Cedar Mountain did get out in transition, it was often Dahmes making things happen in the open floor, scoring 14 points on the day and dishing two flashy assists on the run. One was a pass behind him to a trailing Blake Steffl for the foul and the finish, and another was placed between the legs of a Wabasso defender to Blake Schueller, who also converted while being fouled.

“I always look to be a team player,” Dahmes said. “Kind of contributing on and off the court. Being a good role model for all my teammates.”

Also for Cedar Mountain, Schueller had 30 points, while Steffl had 18 points. Carson Schiller added 13 points for the Cougars.

Wabasso was led by Brayden Guetter had 16 points and three rebounds, while Calvin Hanna had 13 points and five rebounds. Caden Frericks added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Cedar Mountain took an early lead on a Schiller 3-pointer to go up 5-2. The Cougars held onto that lead, going up 19-12 on a pair of free throws by Schueller before Wabasso’s Jack Burns cut into it with a 3-pointer. Wabasso fought back to a 25-23 game after another 3-pointer by Burns, but Cedar Mountain pushed the lead back out to 32-27 on a reverse layup by Schueller. The Cougars extended the advantage to 45-34 on a layup by Dahmer, but a layup by Guetter and a buzzer-beating mid-range jumper by Hanna set the halftime score at 45-38.

Cedar Mountain slowed things down in the second half while still capitalizing on transition opportunities. The Cougars went on a 14-4 run, during which Dahmes made his first pass to Steffl in transition, to take a 62-48 lead. Cedar Mountain continued to push, and Dahmes’ pass through the legs to Schueller made it a 76-54 game. Subs came into the game with 2:36 to play as the Cougars closed the game out.

Cedar Mountain (10-0, 8-0) hosts Lester Prairie on Friday. Wabasso (7-5, 4-3) hosts Red Rock Central on Saturday.