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WAYNE - The Pender Pendragons tamed the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears at Rice Auditorium in the opening round of the Elkhorn Valley Bank Northeast Nebraska Shootout Dec. 29 with a 49-25 win to advance to the semifinals while sending the Bears into the consolation bracket.
LCC was frigid the entire ballgame and fell behind 20-10 with just over five minutes left in the first half.
Tanner Thompson canned a three to make it 20-13 then picked up his third foul two minutes later to end up on the bench beside head coach Quin Conner for the rest of the half.
Cade Johnson hit 1-of-2 shots from the foul line to make it 20-14 with 2:25 left before the intermission, but the Bears would get no closer, trailing 22-14 at the half and 33-16 at the end of the third frame after managing just one basket in the third quarter.
The Pendragons coasted from there and posted the 49-25 final score.
Thompson finished the game with seven points to lead LCC, Johnson scored six, Drey Puppe added five and Paxton Hoeppner hit a long ball for three.
Pender moved on to the semifinals with its unblemished record to take on Pierce, a 48-44 winner over Omaha Concordia while Laurel-Concord-Coleridge was set to take on Concordia in the consolation bracket on Dec. 30.
The Northeast Nebraska Shootout continued Dec. 31 with consolation games and the tournament finals.
LCC (3-4) 7 7 2 9 - 25 PEN (8-0) 14 8 11 16 - 49 LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE: Dayton Korth 1 0-2 2; Paxton Hoeppner 1 0-0 3; Drey Puppe 2 1-2 5; Ian Sohler 1 0-0 2; Tanner Thompson 2 1-2 7; Cade Johnson 1 3-4 6. PENDER: Trevor Trimble 6 4-4 18; Reece Heineman 2 0-0 5; Lane Kelly 1 0-0 2; Grant Geisert 0 1-2 1; Jake Schuster 1 1-2 3; Carter Hansen 1 0-0 2; Zander Welsh 5 3-6 14; Ryan Krueger 2 0-2 4.
