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CROFTON — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge boys basketball season had a successful start on the road last week, as the Bears ran past Creighton 67-35 on Dec. 5, then turned back Crofton 65-49 on Dec. 6.
The battle with the Warriors was physical from the tip, but the Bears adjusted and got things going in the second half.
“We shot the ball better than we did the night before,” firstyear LCC coach, Quin Conner said. “We made some timely stops down the stretch that we were able to capitalize on, on the offensive end with some big shots collectively.”
The Bears went to the halftime break clinging to 35-31 lead, but started to open up a bigger advantage in the second half.
In the final frame, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge held the Warriors to just five points to put the game away by the 16-point margin.
“Our defense was substantially better in the second half,” the coach said.
Gibson Roberts had the hot hand for the night pouring in 34 points, including four 3-pointers.
Eli Haisch added 13 points, Caleb Erwin had seven and Conner Korth chipped in five.
Erwin, Roberts and Korth each grabbed seven missed shots, Cade Johnson had five rebounds.
In the season opener against the Bulldogs, the Bears shook off a slow start and really turned up the heat in the second half.
“We really got off to a slow start and couldn’t really get the ball to fall from pretty much anywhere,” Conner said. “We played a very bad first half collectively but still found a way to be up one at the break.”
LCC led 24-23 heading into the second half where they held Creighton to just three baskets in the third and three baskets in the fourth to run away with the game.
“We came out with a bang in the third quarter and made some shots,” said the coach. “As a result we got some energy and were able to defend a little better and ended up winning pretty handily.”
Roberts and Johnson took care of the LCC scoring in the game with 18 and 16 points respectively. Erwin added eight and Haisch chipped in with six.
Johnson just missed a doubledouble with eight rebounds to go along with his 16-point shooting effort. Haisch handed out six assists and Tanner Thompson dished out five.
The Bears were scheduled to travel to Homer on Dec. 10, before hosting Tri County Northeast on Dec. 13.
They will be back on the road Dec. 17 with a trip to Ponca.
LCC (2-0) 15 20 18 12 — 65 CRO (1-1) 16 15 13 5 — 49 LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE: Caleb Erwin 3-7 0-0 7; Drey Puppe 0-1 0-0 0; Carter Korth 1-5 0-2 2; Gibson Roberts 14-28 2-2 34; Eli Haisch 5-10 0-0 13; Conner Korth 2-4 0-0 5; Tanner Thompson 0-2 0-0 0; Cade Johnson 2-7 0-0 4. LCC (2-0) 9 15 19 24 - 67 CRE (0-2) 10 13 6 6 - 35 LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE: Parker Hoeppner 1-1 0-0 3; Erwin 3-10 0-0 8; Dayton Korth 1-1 0-0 2; Talon Carson 0-1 0-0 0; Puppe 1-3 0-0 2; Carter Korth 5-5 1-1 5; Roberts 7-15 2-3 18; Haisch 2-10 0-0 6; Co. Korth 1-3 0-0 2; Thompson 2-3 0-0 5; Johnson 7-17 1-1 16.
