Bears suffer setback in L&C title game.

WAYNE — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears played their way to the Lewis & Clark Conference Tournament final but fell just a little short in that final 48-44 to Winnebago to end the week with a 17-4 record.

Earlier LCC beat Wausa 79-47 and No. 1-seeded Wynot 58-49 to arrive in the finals, which were played at Wayne State College.

“This was a big atmosphere and good for this team,” Bear coach Todd Erwin said. “This will only make us better.”

After reeling off seven wins in eight games, Erwin and his crew ran into an equally hot bunch from Winnebago.

“I really felt like we just thought too much,” Erwin said. “We just needed to play the game and let the game come to us.”

The Bears trailed 17-11 after one but got busy in the second quarter.

LCC went from a nine-point deficit in the first to a five-point lead around halfway through the second period.

Evan Haisch hit a three at the buzzer in the first frame before the Bears scored the next 11 points after trailing 11-17 at the first rest stop.

Jake Rath grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in the bucket, Lucas Rasmussen cashed in a three, Rath scored again off an assist and a put back by Carter Kvols made it 20-17 with the Bears in the lead.

Rath tracked down a loose ball inside to make it 22-17 with just under four minutes left in the half. Winnebago finally hit a bucket with just over 3:30 left but Kvols scored again inside with 2:53 left to make it 24-19.

The Indians took it from there to make it a game and ended the first half in a 27-27 tie.

“It’s the time of year where you need to play your best,” Erwin said. “Tonight, we really didn’t play our best but if we get out of our own way we could be really good moving forward.”

With 5:37 left in the game, LCC tied it up 39-39 after Rath hit a free throw and Gibson Roberts made two.

Dyami Berridge scored on a couple of charity tosses of his own and a runner in the middle of the paint to put Winnebago up 43- 39 with 4:22 left.

An offensive rebound and put back by Kvols with just under four minutes left made it 43-41.

In the semifinals the Bears took on the top seed in the conference the Wynot Blue Devils in Wakefield February 3.

LCC raced to an early 17-10 lead in the opening period behind defensive play that turned into offense and Rath’s work inside.

The lead grew to 19-10 when Rath scored again with 7:01 left in the first half - he would finish the night with a game-high 24 points.

“We really just love to compete,” Rath said. “We just want to go play - it was cool to get this win and get a chance to go win the title to get us ready for the next step.”

The Blue Devils made a run from there paced by back-to-back steals by Zack Foxhoven that resulted in lay ups and with 6:11 remaining before the break, the Bears lead was down to a bucket. “We had too many turnovers in this game,” Erwin said. “They got into some foul trouble which helped us, but we need to take care of the basketball better moving forward.”

Wynot took a lead with 3:33 on the clock at 24-23 but Haisch responded with a free throw followed by a nifty pass from Gibson Roberts to Lucas Rasmussen with two minutes left.

Roberts converted a couple of charity tosses to make it 31-26 but an offensive rebound and putback at the buzzer by Chase Schroeder sent the teams to the intermission with LCC hanging on to a three-point advantage.

“Games like this will only make us better,” Wynot coach Lee Heimes said. “We had our looks tonight but some of them just didn’t fall - it’s the way it goes. They (LCC) are a very good team.”

The lead grew to seven by the end of the third quarter but another Foxhoven steal and lay up combined with a Jack Kuchta put back got Wynot right back in it with 6:10 left in the game.

That’s where Rath took over inside.

Back-to-back baskets under the hoop and a nice dribble-drive in the paint by Haisch pushed the lead back to nine and the Bears were headed to the finals.

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge is set to travel to Wisner Feb. 10 to take on the Wisner-Pilger Gators before ending the regular season with another date with Wynot on Feb. 18 in Laurel.

WIN 17 10 10 11 - 48 LCC 11 16 6 11 - 44

SCORING LCC - Grant Erwin 0 1-2 1; 1 0-0 3; Jake Rath 5 5-11 15; Lucas Rasmussen 3 0-0 7; Evan Haisch 2 2-3 7;Carter Kvols 3 0-0 6; Gibson Roberts 1 2-2 5. Winnebago - Kevin Tebo, Jr. 1 1-2 3; Zaiden Bernie 3 1-6 7; Javon Price 4 0-1 10; Dyami Berridge 5 10-12 22; Timothy LaPointe 3 0-0 6.

REBOUNDS LCC - Erwin 3; Wilton Roberts 1; Rath 12; Rasmussen 6; Haisch 4; Kvols 5; G. Roberts 4. Winnebago - Tebo, Jr. 6; Bernie 1; Price 6; Cordell Funmaker 5; Berridge 1; Lavelle Smith 1; LaPointe 2.

ASSISTS - LCC - Rasmussen 1; Haisch 3; G. Roberts 1. Winnebago Tebo, Jr. 1; Bernie 3; Berridge 1; Smith 1.

STEALS Winnebago - Tebo, Jr. 3; Price 1; Funmaker 1; Berridge 1; Smith 1; LaPointe 3. LCC - Rath 1; Haisch 1; G. Roberts 1.

LCC 17 14 11 16 - 58 WYN 10 18 7 14 - 49

SCORING LCC Erwin 2 2-3 7; W. Roberts 2 0-2 5; Rath 11 2-6 24; Rasmussen 3 0-2 6; Haisch 4 5-6 14; G. Roberts 0 2-2 2. Wynot - Zack Foxhoven 4 2-4 10; Dylan Heine 1 1-2 3; Timothy Steinhaus 1 0-0 2; Charlie Schroeder 7 1-3 15; Jack Kuchta 3 1-4 8; Chase Schroeder 2 3-6 7; Colin Wieseler 1 2-2 4.

REBOUNDS - Erwin 3; Rath 8; Rasmussen 5; Haisch 6; Kvols 2; G. Roberts 1.

ASSISTS W. Roberts 2; Rasmussen 2; Haisch 1. Steals: Erwin 3; W. Roberts 2; Rath 2; Rasmussen 3; Haisch 4; G. Roberts 2.