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LAUREL - The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears rebounded to take third in the Greater Northeast Activities Conference Tournament played on their home court, 43-37 over Elkhorn Valley.
The Bears lost a heartbreaking overtime game to Plainview the night before, 63-60, to wind up in the consolation contest.
LCC was clinging to a 37-35 lead over the Falcons with 1:06 left in the game.
Cade Johnson was fouled on a shot in the paint and canned two charity tosses to move the lead to 39-35.
Paxton Hoeppner stole the ball from Elkhorn Valley and raced to the other end for a lay up and the lead grew to 41-35.
The Falcons scored on an offensive rebound and put back then called timeout with 16.1 seconds left.
Drey Puppe was fouled and splashed both of the free throws to seal the game.
Johnson led a balanced attack with 13 points, Puppe and Talon Carson each added a dozen with all of Carson’s points coming from beyond the arc.
Johnson and Puppe each grabbed seven rebounds and Johnson registered five steals.
In the tight loss to the Pirates, Plainview sprinted out to an 18-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Bears took a basket out of the lead in the second and the teams went to the intermission with Plainview in front 33-25.
LCC kept the pressure on and trimmed another four points off the Pirate advantage in the third and tied it up at the end of regulation 54-54.
Plainview outscored the Bears 9-6 in the extra session to send Laurel-Concord-Coleridge to the consolation game and grab a ticket in the GNAC finals.
Puppe had a fine game with 22 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
Paxton Hoeppner added 16 points and Carson tacked on 11.
Hoeppner and Johnson led the team with four assists each and Tanner Thomson swiped three steals.
LCC will return to the court on the road at Wisner-Pilger Feb. 12 then finish the regular season at home against Wynot on Feb. 20.
EV (12-8) 12 12 5 8 - 37 LCC (8-13) 14 13 8 8 - 43 LCC: Parker Hoeppner 0-1 0-0 0; Dayton Korth 0-2 0-0 0; Paxton Hoeppner 2-5 0-0 4; Talon Carson 4-7 0-0 12; Drey Puppe 1-11 10-10 12; Tanner Thompson 1-4 0-1 2; Cade Johnson 3-11 7-8 13.
LCC (8-13) 8 17 14 15 6 - 60 PLV (13-6) 18 15 10 11 9 - 63 LCC : Par. Hoeppner 1-3 0-0 3; Korth 0-2 0-0 0; Pax. Hoeppner 5-14 3-4 16; Carson 4-11 0-0 11; Puppe 7-15 4-5 22; Thompson 1-3 0-0 2; Johnson 2-6 2-4 6.
