Bears end Wildcats season in SubDistricts

PONCA — The first time Hartington-Newcastle and Laurel-Concord-Coleridge met up on the basketball court this year, the Bears needed a furious fourth quarter rally to earn the win.

Thursday’s SubDistrict title game was a different story, though.

In Thursday’s SubDistrict final, the state-rated Bears jumped out front early and stayed their as they rolled to a 73-40 win over Hartington-Newcastle, using a strong second half to pull away with the big win.

The Orange and Black defense caused all kinds of trouble for the Wildcats.

“Laurel, I just think their full-court pressure really affected us and got us out of sorts,” said HNS coach Nick Haselhorst. “They are a really talented team and we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities around the rim. Schutte really took over in the second half.”

Schutte dropped a game-high 29 points and Haisch added 14 for the Bears. Also scoring were Erwin with nine, Hartung with eight, Schmitt and Hall with three each. Rath, Landen Boysen and Lucas Rasmussen each had two and Deagan Puppe kicked in a free throw.

Schutte led the team with 13 rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Hartung had nine boards and two steals and Schmitt had three assists.

LCC was playing Anselmo-Merna in Tuesday’s district final at Albion’s Boone Central High School.

The winner advances to next week’s state tournament in Lincoln.

The loss ends the Wildcats’ season, while LCC advanced to the District title game Tuesday at Albion.

HNS 9 14 7 10 - 40

LCC 18 10 22 23 - 73

HNS LCC

FG 7-22 19-35

3PT 5-21 7-20

FT 11-16 14-17

Reb 23 35

TOs 17 5

SCORING

HNS - Shaye Morten, 16; Kobe Heitman, 12; Sam Harms, 6; Matthew Meisenheimer, 4; Teagan Scoggan, 2. LCC - Noah Schutte, 29; Evan Haisch, 14; Ty Erwin, 9; Evan Schmitt, 3; Austin Hall, 3; Landon Boysen, 2; Jake Rath, 2; L Rasmussen, 2; Deagan Puppe, 1

REBOUNDS

HNS - Sam Harms, 7; Shaye Morten, 4; Matthew Meisenheimer, 4; Kobe Heitman, 3; Teagan Scoggan, 2; Dylan Dendinger, 2; Sievers, 1. LCC - Noah Schutte, 13; Cael Hartung, 9; Austin Hall, 3; Evan Schmitt, 2; Evan Haisch, 2; Ty Erwin, 2; Landon Boysen, 1; Wilton Roberts, 1; Dillon Olson, 1; L Rasmussen, 1.

ASSISTS

HNS - Shaye Morten, 4; Isaac Bruning, 2; Sam Harms, 1; Kobe Heitman, 1. LCC - Noah Schutte, 8; Evan Schmitt, 3; Cael Hartung, 2; Ty Erwin, 1; Dillon Olson, 1; Austin Hall, 1; Deagan Puppe, 1.

STEALS

HNS - Shaye Morten, 1; Kobe Heitman, 1; Teagan Scoggan, 1. LCC - Noah Schutte, 3; Cael Hartung, 2; Evan Haisch, 1.