Going to State

O’NEILL — The Bears dominant District title win over Anselo-Merna last week earned LCC a trip to State.

This marks the first time the combined Laurel-Concord-Coleridge boys basketball team has advanced to state. It also marks the first time since 2001 that a Laurel team has advanced to the Big Dance.

The Bears took control of this one early and never looked back.

LCC raced out to a big 23-14 lead then put a 16-6 second-quarter run on A-M to take a 39-20 lead into the halftime break.

The pace slowed down in the second half, but the Bears still managed to earn a 24-17 scoring advantage to seal the win and punch their ticket to Lincoln.

Senior stalwart Noah Schutte once again came up big for the Bears as he hit for 37 points. His big-game effort also propelled him over the 2,000 point mark for his career — a milestone no other Bear has ever met.

Schutte also led the team on the boards, earning yet another double-double on the year with his 11-rebound effort.

LCC Coach Todd Erwin said the game plan worked well against Anselo-Merna.

“We wanted to play our game and wanted to get after it: Go to the full court press, trap everywhere and get them out of their comfort zone,” coach Erwin said. “We attacked the rim and got a lot of good shots and got a lot of fouls early on their key players. The kids executed the and it worked

The Bears enter the State Tourney as the fourth seed. They open play at 10:45 a.m. Thursday at Lincoln East High School against fifth-seeded Paxton.