Bears will face a tough road to the D1 State title

LINCOLN-Northeast Nebraskawill have plenty of representation at this week’s state in both Laurel-Concord-Coleridge and Randolph take their squads south for a chance at a trophy and lasting memories.

Both teams are to D1 and D2 state tournaments following impressive showings at last week’s district finals.

The No. 4 Bears head into the D1 State tourneywith a 23-5 record on the year.

The Bears haven’t made many trips to the State Tourney, but history has shown when they do make it to the big dance, they do quite well.

This will be the ninth time a Laurel-based boys basketball team has advanced to Lincoln. The Bears won the State title in 1995 and again in their last appearance at State 19 years ago in 2001.

The Bears will take on fifth-seeded Paxton, which put together a 21-3 season to date.

The contest tips off at 10:45 a.m. Thursday at Lincoln East High School.

The Bears rolled to state with an emphatic 63-37 win over No. 14 seeded Anselmo-Merna on March 3 at Boone Central High School.

LCC heads to state dropping from a No. 3 seed at district to No. 4, but either way, head coach Todd Erwin is confident in what his team can do.

“We match up close and they are a good team from what I have seen on film,” Erwin said. “They have a kid that’s 6-11 and another that’s 6-7, so they are lengthy, and it shouldbe good competition. It should be a good game.”

Defense will be critical in this contest, Coach Erwin said.

“Every team we’ve seen has tried to play zone and we are going to try to speed it up like he said. “That should be a advantage for us going into this game.”

The Bears are known for a powerful shooting, and that must continue at State, Erwin said.

“The only thing that can slow us up is if we have an off-shooting night and puts five guys in the key and crowds it up. They also have to get back fast on defense, because if we aren’t shooting well, we are going to try to speed it up even more.”

The Bears are led by Noah Schutte (23.5 ppg, 13.1 rpg), Ty Erwin (14.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and Evan Haisch (11.4 ppg).

Paxton counters with Blake Brewster (22.2 ppg, 9.4 rpg) and Dayo Kennedy (13.3 ppg).

It should be a good matchup across the board, but LCC comes in riding the high of an impressive win to get here.

‘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 plans and it worked great.”

In order to have success in Lincoln, the Bears have to keep executing well, he said.