WAYNE, Neb. -- Wednesday marked the first day of the Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout at Wayne State College.

On the boys side of things, the Pierce Bluejays were squaring off against the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears.

Going into halftime, both the Bluejays and Bears were in a tight, competitive game with Pierce leading at the break 23-19.

In the second half, it was all Bluejays. They used a great defense and efficient offense to pull away with a final score of 58-37 and stay undefeated at 7-0.

Former Nebraska football commit, and now Iowa State signee, Ben Brahmer led all scorers with 27 points. Abram Scholting hit three shots from beyond the arch and finished his day with 17 points.

Head Coach Mike Emory said when everyone is making plays, that’s when the Bluejays are at their best.

“Obviously Ben and Abram are two big guns and they’re going to get theirs but it’s when other people contribute when we’re equally tough to stop offensively,” Emory said.

With the Pierce football team making a deep run to win a state championship back in November, Emory added the team only had five practices before their first game and with the Christmas break, he said it could take a little bit to shake off some rust during the time off.

“The moratorium is always scary as a coach because you don’t touch a basketball as a group for five or six days this year actually,” Emory said. “Our kids needed a mental break. They’ve been going at it since July with football and didn’t get any break between football and basketball. “

Since Brahmer officially signed with Iowa State, there was a lot of speculation around northeast Nebraska whether he was going to play his final basketball season but Emory said it wasn’t even a question.

“There was never really any talk with them of him leaving early,” Emory said. “He wants to see it through with these kids and he wants to graduate from Pierce High School.”