Bears top Bees, fall to Pierce in Holiday Tny. opener

LAUREL — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge basketball teams entered the holiday break with a Tuesday matchup at home against Bloomfield.

It was a close battle early on in the boys game, with the defending Class D-1 state champs posting a 10-point halftime lead. The Bears took control in the second half, outscoring the Bees 20-2 in the final eight minutes to pull away with the win.

Austin Hall and Cael Hartung shared high scoring honors with 18 points apiece to lead the Bears. Evan Schmitt had nine points, Evan Haisch added eight, Deagan Puppe had seven, Wilton Roberts, Dillon Olson and Markus Martin each had two and Grant Erwin tossed in a free throw.

Hartung and Haisch shared rebounding honors with seven apiece while Austin had four. Haisch dished out three assists and Puppe led with four steals.

LCC 15 15 20 20 — 70

Bloomfield 14 6 14 2 — 36

SCORING LCC-Cael Hartung, 10; Austin Hall, 18; Evan Schmitt, 9; Evan Haisch, 8; Deagen Puppe, 7; Lucas Rasmussen, 3; Wilton Roberts, 2; Dillon Olson, 2; M Martin, 2; Grant Erwin, 1.

REBOUNDS LCC-Cael Hartung, 7; Evan Haisch, 7; Lucas Rasmussen, 4; Austin Hall, 4; Deagen Puppe, 3; Grant Erwin, 2; Evan Schmitt, 2; Dillon Olson, 1; M Martin, 1.

ASSISTS LCC-Evan Haisch, 3; Evan Schmitt, 2; Grant Erwin, 1; Trevor Boysen, 1; Cael Hartung, 1; Lucas Rasmussen, 1; Deagen Puppe, 1.

STEALS LCC-Deagan Puppe, 4; Evan Schmitt, 3; Grant Erwin, 2; Cael Hartung, 2; Evan Haisch,2; Lucas Rasmussen, 1.

In first-round action at the Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout, the Bears fell to Pierce in a 55-47 overtime game.

The weather forced tourney organizers to push Tuesday’s games to Wednesday.

The Bears are set to play Pender at 11 a.m. Wednesday in consolation action.

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