LCC Bears stumble against tough area opponents

WAYNE — After returning to the court after a couple of weeks off thanks to Old Man Winter, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge ran into a couple of good basketball teams in Battle Creek and at Wayne Jan. 19 and 20.

No statistics were made available for the Battle Creek game, which the Bears lost 90-60 on Jan. 19 on the road.

A trip to Wayne followed the next night and Laurel-Concord-Coleridge lost to the 12-3 Blue Devils, 53-38.

The Bears trailed from the onset against the Blue Devils and were behind 18-5 in the first quarter before Carter Kvols grabbed his own rebound and scored to send the teams to the second frame with Wayne in front, 18-7.

The lead would get up to 23-7 before the Bears got a spark.

Brayden Urwiler went coastto-coast with the basketball for a bucket before Kolby Hansen grabbed a rebound and scored and was fouled.

Hansen converted the traditional 3-point play, but back-to-back 3’s by the Blue Devils made it 29-16. A Tyler Olson 3 before the end of the half made it 29-19.

Olson opened the second half with another basket, this one inside then Urwiler splashed a trifecta to get the Bears to within five with 6:50 left in the third quarter.

Wayne scored inside and converted a pair of charity tosses to build the lead back to 33-24 but a pair of Olson gifters moved it back to a seven-point game with just under four minutes left in the third period.

A Blue Devil basket inside and a foul shot with 1:24 left made it 3626 but Hansen hit a 12-foot jump shot to make it 36-28 with 1:04 left in the third.

Wayne hit a 3 with 20.1 seconds left but Kayton Hall closed out the quarter at the foul line where he made two free throws to head to the final stanza with the score 39-30 then the Blue Devils outscored the Bears 14-8 in the fourth to take the 15-point win.

Hansen led LCC with 13 points on the night. Olson chipped in eight and Urwiler finished with five.

Hansen just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, Kvols and Hall had four boards each.

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge was set to kickoff a busy week when traveling to Osmond/Randolph on Jan. 23.

The Bears are scheduled to take on Wakefield Jan. 25 and Walthill on Jan. 26 before opening play in the Lewis and Clark Conference Basketball Tournament.

LCC 7 12 11 8 — 38 Wayne 10 11 10 14 — 53 LCC (9-5): Bradyn Urwiler 2-4 0-0 5; Caleb Erwin 1-2 0-0 3; Kolby Hansen 6-11 1-1 13; Gibson Roberts 1-7 0-0 3; Eli Haisch 0-1 0-0 0; Tyler Olson 2-8 2-2 8; Carter Kvols 1-5 0-0 2; Kayton Hall 1-4 2-2 4.