No. 10 Bulldogs bounce Tigers in Lakes play

(Sentinel photo by Jesse Geleynse) Le Mars' Judd Herzberg drives to the hoop for a Bulldog basket. [Click to enlarge]

As the basketball regular season begins to wind down, Le Mars shooting guard Chance Grady knows how important it is to play with a sense of urgency.

So in recent games, the senior has placed some of the scoring load squarely on his shoulders as the No. 10 (Class 3A) Bulldogs begin the trail leading up to the postseason.

On Tuesday, Grady scored a team-high 16 points - his third consecutive game in double figures - and added four assists as Le Mars completed a season sweep of Spencer with a 63-46 Lakes Conference win at Carey Gym.

"Coach gave me some confidence and that's a big part in shooting," Grady said. "You just have to know it's going to go in and even if you miss a few, if you've been a good shooter, you're going to be a good shooter."

Grady punctuated his performance with a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers sandwiched around a Paxton Strub dunk and two free throws from Austin Homan that stretched Le Mars' lead back to double digits after the Tigers had crept within nine points.

"We're going to see some zones the rest of the year and he's gotta be able to knock those shots down," Le Mars coach Dave Irwin said of Grady. "It's just a matter of him getting some confidence. I've known all along that he can shoot the basketball. (But) he struggled early (this season). I don't know what's clicked the last two weeks, but I hope he stays with it because he's played as well as anybody we have and been as consistent as anybody we have."

Classmate Sam Van Wettering added a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter that helped quell another Spencer rally after the Tigers had cut Le Mars' 12-point halftime lead to five.

"It's going to take the whole team," Grady said. "When we play good teams, they're going to cut the leads - they're going to have runs. When you play good teams, you have to have more than one guy step up."

Strub finished with 11 points and five rebounds while Homan scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds. Van Wettering finished with eight points and three assists while Scott Borchers scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds.

The 'Dogs jumped all over the Tigers to lead 19-6 after one quarter. Le Mars' lead swelled to 25-8 in the second quarter before it entered halftime leading 29-17.

Spencer forward Drake Swanson scored eight straight points to open the third quarter and his short jumper with 3:26 remaining in the period cut Le Mars' lead to 34-29. Then Van Wettering dropped a pair of treys to run the Bulldogs' lead back to nine.

"Obviously we've got to do a little better job (putting teams away), but I thought we regrouped nicely at the start of the fourth quarter and stretched (the lead) back out," Irwin said. "We just gotta do a better job of having that killer instinct and staying consistent throughout the game."

The win, Le Mars' second straight since a double-digit setback to Class 2A No. 5 Western Christian last Friday, was critical because it was the final game that will be considered by the state when it seeds teams for the postseason.

"If we're going to do anything in the tournament, we are going to have to learn to play at a consistent level," Irwin said. "I thought we showed early in the game what we're capable of doing. It might be as good of a stretch as we've played all year, but we've got to carry that over."

Swanson finished with 17 points and Jay Monahan scored 11 to pace Spencer. Of more concern to Irwin and Grady was the fact that the Tigers out-rebounded the 'Dogs by a 27-26 margin - a total that included 11 boards by Spencer on the offensive end.

"I think if we limit (opponents') offensive rebounds, then we'll be in really good shape," Grady said.

Le Mars (12-3, 9-2) returns to action on Friday as it hosts Cherokee in the Bulldogs' home finale.