—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Humboldt’s Caden Matson puts up a shot over St. Edmond's Hayden Mayer and Sam Mericle (22). For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

Needing to hold off the St. Edmond boys here Friday night, Humboldt relied on its seniors.

Caden Matson scored 14 in the second half, including four down the stretch, as the Wildcats remained unbeaten with a 66-57 victory.

Matson, an all-state football player who led Humboldt (5-0 overall, 2-0 in North Central Conference) to the semifinals, had a game-high 21 points with seven rebounds and two steals. Will Orness added 14 with Trevor Jacobson, Jacob Heier and Joshua Thurm each chipping in nine.

“They came through for us when we needed them,” Humboldt head coach Jason Thurm said. “We had to battle against a St. Edmond team that is tough to guard on the perimeter. This is always a tough place to play, so I was proud of our guys for getting the win.”

For the Gaels (3-3, 0-3), Quinten McCarville knocked down five 3-pointers and scored 19, with Hayden Mayer adding 17. Mayer also had seven rebounds.

“Our kids kept battling,” SEHS head coach Adolph Kochendorfer said. “We just had a few moments where we lost focus and Humboldt made us pay. But there were several good teaching lessons that we can build off of. We played hard against a big, strong team and gave ourselves a chance despite too many turnovers.”

The Wildcats started quick, taking an early 17-6 lead thanks to a pair of triples by Orness and another from Matson. They pushed the lead to as many as 13 before a 7-0 run gave the Gaels some life before halftime.

Matson had seven with both Orness and Jacobson adding six in the first half.

“We did a good job on defense of getting into passing lanes and converting on the other end,” Thurm said. “This team has the potential to put up a lot of points, but when shots aren’t falling, we have to find other ways to score. I thought we did that (Friday night).”

McCarville got on track in the fourth, scoring 11 with three made 3-pointers. His bucket with just over three minutes left made it a 55-52 game, but Matson knocked down two free throws to push the lead back to five.

Mayer again made it a one possession game before Orness drained a triple.

“We’ve just got to keep playing this hard each time out,” Kochendorfer said. “When we played hard on defense, that carried over to the offensive end. We have some really good shooters, especially when they are taking shots in the flow of the game.”

Jackson Palmer added nine points and Noah Simpson eight for the Gaels, with Caleb Schaeffer pulling down five rebounds.

Jacob Heier had nine points and eight rebounds with three steals for the Wildcats, while University of Northern Iowa football signee Ben Kuehnast recorded five boards.

Humboldt will close out the pre-holiday portion of its schedule Tuesday at Hampton-Dumont/CAL. St. Edmond heads to Webster City that same night.

HUMBOLDT 66, ST. EDMOND 57

Humboldt — Will Orness 5 0-0 14, Caden Matson 8 4-7 21, Trevor Jacobson 4 0-0 9, Jacob Heier 4 1-2 9, Kaleb McCullough 1 2-2 4, Ben Kuehnast 0 0-0 0, Joshua Thurm 3 2-3 9, Carson Berte 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 9-14 66.

St. Edmond — Jackson Palmer 3 0-0 9, Noah Simpson 3 0-1 8, Quinten McCarville 7 0-0 19, Hayden Mayer 5 7-8 17, Caleb Schaeffer 1 0-0 2, Sam Mericle 1 0-0 2, Zach Smith 0 0-0 0, Isaac Landwehr 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 7-9 57.

Quarter scores: Humboldt led 17-10, 30-20, 48-40. Three-point goals: Humboldt 7 (Orness 4, Matson 1, Jacobson 1, Thurm 1); St. Edmond 10 (Palmer 3, Simpson 2, McCarville 5). Total rebounds: Humboldt 32, St. Edmond 21. Steals: Humboldt 11, St. Edmond 3. Turnovers: Humboldt 10, St. Edmond 17.