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HARTINGTON — The LCC Bears showed Thursday they never give up — no matter how bad things look.
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge fell behind by 14 first-half points in Thursday’s SubDistrict title game against state-rated Cedar Catholic (16-6).
The Bears got it together in the second half to erase the deficit, take the narrow lead and nearly pull off a huge upset, losing 48-45 in Hartington.
LCC outscored the Trojans by seven points in the third frame and another four points in the final eight minutes.
The Orange and Black pulled within one point with just five minutes left in the contest. The Bears then took a 45-43 lead with just under three minutes left in the game.
The Trojans refused to give up and knotted the contest at 45-45 with 1:39 left in the game. LCC had a chance to retake the lead, but the Trojans stole the ball off an in-bounds pass. Cedar Catholic then called a timeout.
After a brief sideline talk with coach Nick Haselhorst, the Trojans took the floor again. Junior sharp shooter Jaymison Cattau found himself wide open from beyond the arc and fired a shot from downtown for the go-ahead score.
The Bears again had a chance to knot the game, but their shot missed the mark as time expired, giving Cedar Catholic the win.
“We stayed in the game,” LCC coach Todd Erwin said. “We just fell a little short.”
Tyler Olson paced Laurel-Concord-Coleridge with 20 points in the contest, including a 7-for-9 performance from the field and a 2-for-3 showing from beyond the arc.
Add in a 4-for-4 shooting night from the charity stripe and you end up with 20 points in Olson’s last game for the Bears.
Gibson Roberts added 16 points and he and Olson scored 36 of LCC’s 45 points. Cade Johnson added four, Eli Haisch hit a 3 and Kolby Hansen tacked on a bucket.
Hansen recorded eight rebounds; Olson and Johnson pulled down four missed shots apiece.
Roberts had five steals and Carter Kvols added three assists and two blocks to his night.
In the C2-8 opening-round game, the Bears dominated against the Crofton Warriors, earning a 76-55 victory.
The Bears jumped out to an almost insurmountable lead in the first eight minutes, scoring 26 points in the opening quarter and taking a 2612 lead when the dust settled in the first stanza.
LCC added seven points to the lead in the second frame and went to the intermission with a 44-23 advantage.
Both teams scored 32 points in the second half and the Bears cruised to the win.
Four Laurel-Concord-Coleridge players finished in double figures.
Hansen, Roberts and Haisch all finished with 18 points, Haisch finished 6-for-7 from downtown for all of his 18 and Johnson poured in 10.
Johnson had seven rebounds, Kvols and Hansen each had six and Roberts grabbed four missed shots.
Kvols handed out four assists while Hansen had four blocked shots.
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge ended the 2023-24 season with a 13-13 record.
LCC 8 12 14 11 - 45 Cedar 17 17 7 7 - 48
P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.
LCC: Bradyn Urwiler 0-0 0-0 0P, 1R, 1S; Kolby Hansen 1-7 0-0 2P, 8R, 1A, 1S, 1B; Gibson Roberts 5-12 4-4 16P, 3R, 5S; Eli Haisch 1-4 0-2 3P, 1R, 1S; Tyler Olson 7-9 4-4 20P; 4R, 1A; Carter Kvols 0-2 0-0 0P, 2R, 3A, 2S, 2B; Cade Johnson 2-2 0-0 4P, 4R, 1A. CRO 12 11 17 15 - 55 LCC 26 18 16 16 - 76 LCC: Hansen 8-11 2-3 18P, 6R, 3A, 4B; Gibson Roberts 6-12 2-4 18P, 4R. 2A, 2S; Haisch 6-8 0-0 18P, 1A, 2S; Olson 4-6 0-1 8P, 3R, 1A, 1S; Kvols 1-4 0-0 2P, 6R, 4A, 2S, 2B; Kayton Hall 1-1 0-0 2P; Johnson 5-7 0-1 10P, 1A.
