ADRIAN – The Cougars dropped a game earlier this year to Whiteford but was determined not to let that happen again.
LCS scored the most points it has since 1997 and took a two-game lead in the Tri-County Conference.
Jaxon Salenbien scored 36 points and Brandon Summer 21 for LCS. Summer scored 19 points in the second half alone. Daniel Scrupsky added 15 points on five 3-pointers. LCS made 12 triples as a team.
“We knew we had to get momentum, keep momentum, and get stops,” LCS coach Matt Summer said. “We changed up defenses a little bit and I thought that was key.”
LCS led 30-20 early in the second quarter, but Whiteford rattled off 10 points in 1:05 to tie the game at 4:33 left in the first half and the Cougars top scorer, Brandon Summer, was out with two personal fouls.
After a timeout, however, LCS righted its ship. Jaxon Salenbien’s buzzer-beater at halftime finished off a 14-4 run for LCS, who regained control of the lead.
“We made some bad decisions at the end of the second, especially with about a minute to go,” Whiteford coach Nick Abalos said. “They had some run outs and we took some bad shots and had some turnovers and they made some shots. They are a good team.”
It was a two-point game in the third quarter when LCS offense erupted with a series of open layups, 3-pointers and offensive-rebound buckets. They outscored Whiteford 31-20 in the third quarter.
LCS hit 90 points with 5:49 left in the game. Sam Lutz layup gave them 99 with 1:25 left.
Josh Hill led Whiteford with 22 points, making five 3-pointers in a good shooting effort. Lincoln Joerin scored 12 points, Kolby Masserant 10 and Evan Parker 9.
The Bobcats are 9-6 overall and 4-3 in the TCC.
LCS, ranked No. 3 in this week’s Division 4 Associated Press poll, has won all eight games since losing to Whiteford back on Dec. 14. They are 11-2 overall and alone in first place with a 6-1 TCC mark.
WHITEFORD 18 16 20 22 – 76
LCS 22 22 31 24 – 99
WHITEFORD: L. Joerin 4(2) 2-2 12, Hill 8(5) 1-2 22, Parker 3(1) 2-2 9, DeBarr 1 0-0 2, Masserant 5 0-0 10, R. Joerin 1(1) 0-0 3, Stevens 2 2-2 6, Ruddy 3 0-2 6, Patton 2 2-2 6. Totals 29(9) 9-12 76.
LCS: S. Lutz 1 0-0 2, Towler 1 0-0 2, Summer 9(3) 0-0 21, Scrupsky 5(5) 0-0 15, Davis 2 0-0 4, J. Salenbien 14(1) 7-10 36, T. Salenbien 2 0-0 4. Totals 39(12) 9-12 99.
WHITEFORD BOBCAT SPORTS 