WINONA LAKE — A burst right before halftime helped propel Clinton Christian to a big 56-23 win over Lakeland Christian Academy in the opening game of the LCA Cougar Classic boys basketball tournament Friday afternoon.

LCA’s Carter Twombly shoots between three Clinton Christian defenders during the first game of the LCA Cougar Classic Friday afternoon. (Photos by Mike Deak)

With just over a minute remaining before half, Clinton led by just 10 points. But the final sequences of the half had LCA commit two turnovers, miss two free throws and a jump shot while Clinton was able to spread the lead out to 30-17 at the buzzer.

The shift in momentum for Clinton heading into the lockerroom only continued in the second half. Nathan Stutzman drilled a pair of threes and a steal and conversion by Cory Eash pushed the lead to 46-23. The surge by Clinton, which trailed 12-10 after the first only to outscore LCA 20-5 in the second quarter then 16-6 in the third quarter, was too much for the Cougars to overcome.

LCA struggled mightily from the floor in the second half, hitting just three of 18 field goal attempts and found difficulty in running its offense. The Cougars did not hit a basket in the final 10 minutes of the game, failing to score in the fourth quarter.

Chris Silveus of LCA dribbles around Clinton Christian’s Josh Horst.

Leading the way for Clinton was Madison Yoder, who was 9-14 from the floor and 4-5 from the line for 23 points, adding in four rebounds and two steals. Stutzman added nine points – all from downtown – and grabbed seven boards.

LCA, which is now 0-7 this season heading into tonight’s 7:30 p.m. game against South Bend Trinity in the second of three games in the tournament, didn’t have much to show in the way of offensive evolution. Chris Silveus paced the Cougars with 16 points and seven rebounds, but just two teammates found the scoresheet. Carter Twombly had four points on 2-14 shooting and Jon Harmon made a three-point attempt.

LCA head coach Joel Burrus was unavailable for comment following the game.

The two-day tournament will have LCA also play at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow in the final game of the tournament against Covenant Christian.

Lady Cougars Also Struggle

LCA opened the day with the girls team facing Granger Christian. And much like the boys loss, the Lady Cougars couldn’t keep pace with a slick-shooting Granger club in a 65-39 loss.

Granger separated from LCA in the second quarter, where a 21-7 split had leading scorer Krista Kline score nine of her game-high 23 points. Kline had 15 points at the half and made 11 field goals in the game.

Granger also had two other players in double figures, with Kayla Kline scoring 15 points and Kylie Steele notching 11 points. Granger hit six total threes in the game and made 9-11 free throw attempts.

LCA (3-7) were paced from the 16 points by Hannah Delp. Rachel Sand tossed in eight points and Julianne Haines added seven points.

“I was really hoping we would have had a better showing against Granger than we had,” began LCA girls head coach Ty Propp. “I knew they had strong three-point shooting. We didn’t rotate around enough and gave them a lot of set shots. Offensively, we didn’t take care of the ball and we didn’t minimize our turnovers. The fundamentals we didn’t do, like boxing out and making good passes.

“If this is the pattern that we continue, this could be a terrible weekend for us. I hope we can make some adjustments and come out stronger against Trinity.”

LCA will face South Bend Trinity at 6 p.m. tonight in the second game, then close against Covenant Christian tomorrow at 4 p.m.

LCA boys basketball head coach Joel Burrus gestures to Connor Blum during its game against Clinton Christian.