Lucas Rasmussen and Grant Erwin try to keep Wakefield’s Hunter Schultz from passing the ball off during action in their game here last week. The Bears earned the win and now stand at 12-3 on the year.

Bears open L&C Tourney with big win over Wakefield

LAUREL — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears had a busy week, defeating Lewis & Clark Conference rival Wakefield, 60-46, dropping a makeup game to the Walthill Blujays 68-63 and opening the conference tournament with a 79-47 win over Wausa.

In the Lewis & Clark tourney, the Bears sprinted to an early lead and never really looked back on the way to the 32-point win over a very talented Viking team.

“We came back from the Walthill loss and took care of our business,” LCC coach Todd Erwin said. “It was a good start to our tournament.”

For the second year now, the conference gettogether is split with the top eight seeds in one tournament and the nine through 16 seeds in an additional tournament.

It allows for all conference teams to get in three games over the week and alleviates some logistic problems.

Jake Rath had another double-double for the Bears with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Lucas Rasmussen and Evan Haisch each tossed in 11 while Tyler Olson was perfect from the field and contributed eight.

The Bears went up by 16 after the opening eight minutes then added nine points to the advantage by the halftime intermission.

Wausa came out of the break with a little energy, but LCC added to the lead in the third by a bucket then sealed the victory in the final frame to advance in the tournament.

In the game against the Blujays, the Bears ran into a hot-shooting team and seemed to be a little off after a big win over Wakefield the previous night.

“They (Walthill) shot lights out at times,” Erwin said. “We just couldn’t get anything going when we needed it.”

Rath was again the main cog for the Bears as he poured in 25 points and grabbed 24 rebounds on the night.

Haisch contributed 14 and Lucas Rasmussen scored 10 and pulled down seven boards.

Against the Trojans, a strong fourth quarter put the Bears over the hump to send Wakefield home with its third loss of the season.

After a 10-10 tie after one, LCC made a little space in the second stanza to take a 31-25 lead into the halftime locker room.

“They’re a very good team,” Erwin said. “I was real happy the way we finished, we played a good fourth quarter.”

Heading into the final frame, the Bears were only up by a possession, 44-41.

Grant Erwin hit Rath inside to get the ball rolling for LCC then Erwin found Wilton Roberts inside to push the advantage to 48-41 just over a minute into the period.

Haisch was fouled attempting a long ball and converted two of the three charity tosses and after another bucket inside by Rath, the lead was 11, 52-41 forcing Wakefield coach Joe Wendte to call a timeout with 4:53 left in the game.

The Bears prevented the Trojans from getting back in the game hitting six-of-six free throws from the 3:48 mark to the 2:08 mark on the clock.

Grant Erwin hit both ends of a one-and-one then Haisch canned a pair after being fouled on a shot.

Erwin finished the run with two additional gifters and LCC was up 58-42.

A put back after an offensive rebound by Rath ended the scoring for the Bears and the game.

The Bears were set to move on in the tournament to take on Wynot in Wakefield on Friday at 6 p.m. with the hopes of a trip to the finals in Wayne at Rice Auditorium Feb. 7 on the campus of Wayne State College. LCC 23 20 18 18 - 79 WAU 7 11 16 13 - 47

LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE (15-4):

Scoring: Grant Erwin 5 0-0 14; Wilton Roberts 2 0-0 6; Landen Leonard 0 2-5 2; Jake Rath 8 3-5 19; Lucas Rasmussen 5 0-0 11; Evan Haisch 4 1-3 11; Tyler Olson 3 0-0 8; Carter Kvols 3 0-0 6; Gibson Roberts 1 0-0 2.

Rebounds: Bradyn Urwiler 1; Erwin 4; W. Roberts 1; Dillon Olson 2; Leonard 1; Rath 11; Rasmussen 1; Haisch 5; Kvols 3; G. Roberts 1.

Assists: Erwin 1; Roberts 2; Haisch 2; T. Olson 2.

Steals: Erwin 1; W. Roberts 4; Dylan Taylor 1; Leonard 1; Rath 2; Rasmussen 2; Haisch 2.

WAUSA (12-6): Brandon Kristensen 2; Cashe Carlson 3; Jaxon Claussen 22; Jon Nissen 10; Addison Smith 8; Henry Kumm 1; Trevor Thompson 1.

LCC 63

WAL 68

LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE:

Scoring: Erwin 0 3-4 3; W. Roberts 2 0-0 6; Rath 10 5-6 25; Rasmussen 4 1-2 10; Haisch 4 3-5 14; G. Roberts 1 2-2 5.

Rebounds: Erwin 4; W. Roberts 2; Rath 23; Rasmussen 7; Haisch 2; Kvols 4; G. Roberts 2.

Assists: W. Roberts 1; Rath 1; G. Roberts 1. Steals: Erwin 1; Rath 1; Haisch 1; G. Roberts 2.

WALTHILL (12-3): NA

WAK 10 15 16 5 - 46

LCC 10 21 13 16 - 60

WAKEFIELD (15-3): Johnathan Birkley 1 0-0 2; Hunter Schultz 2 1-2 5; Armando Villa 2 1-3 6; Eliseo Sarmiento 3 2-3 10; Cade Johnson 7 1-2 16; Logan Bokemper 1 2-4 4; Ryan Anderson 1 0-0 3.

LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE:

Scoring: Erwin 1 4-4 7; W. Roberts 3 0-0 7; Rath 7 0-0 14; Rasmussen 2 0-2 5; Haisch 7 6-7 23; Kvols 1 0-0 2; G. Roberts 1 0-0 2.

Rebounds: Erwin 3; Rath 14; Ramussen 6; Haisch 5; Kvols 5; G. Roberts 3.

Assists: Erwin 4; W. Roberts 1; Rath 1; Rasmussen 2; Haisch 1.

Steals: Erwin 3; Rasmussen 3; Haisch 1; Kvols 1.