Preview: Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears vs. Pender Pendragons
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears and the Pender Pendragons will round out the year against one another at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday at. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Tuesday, the stars were shining brightly for Laurel-Concord-Coleridge in a 55-41 victory over Bloomfield.
Gibson Roberts was his usual excellent self, scoring 28 points. That makes it four consecutive games in which he has scored at least 25% of Laurel-Concord-Coleridge's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyler Olson, who scored nine points along with eight rebounds and four steals.
Meanwhile, Pender had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They came out on top against Bancroft-Rosalie by a score of 46-37.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Pender to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ryan Krueger, who scored eight points along with six rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Krueger has scored all season. Owen Kneifl was another key contributor, scoring 13 points.
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge's win bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Pender, their win bumped their record up to 6-2.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's game: Laurel-Concord-Coleridge have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 6.7 threes per game. It's a different story for Pender, though, as they've been averaging only 3.2 threes per game. Given Laurel-Concord-Coleridge's sizeable advantage in that area, Pender will need to find a way to close that gap.
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge was able to grind out a solid win over Pender when the teams last played back in December of 2022, winning 56-46. Does Laurel-Concord-Coleridge have another victory up their sleeve, or will Pender turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
