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Broncs win substate title

By LHSports

The Lakin Broncs earned a trip to the state tournament Saturday with a 59-43  win over Beloit in the title game of the Class 3A tournament in Scott City.

With their 20th win a row, the Broncs will head to Hutchinson Thursday for their first trip to state since the undefeated title season of 2001-02.

The Broncs held the Trojans scoreless for nearly six minutes to end the game to get the win.

Lakin jumped out to a 21-15 lead after one period but led just 31-29 at halftime.

A 17-9 third period gave the top-seeded Broncs a 48-38 lead.

Beloit closed the gap to 48-43 early in the final period (5:50) but the Broncs went on a 7-0 run to punch their ticket to state.

Both teams hit for 13 2-point shots, but Lain out-shot Beloit 7-3 from behind the arc and 12-7 from the free throw line for the win.

Lakin scored 16 points off of 13 Trojans turnovers and outscored them 24-22 in the paint.

The Broncs held a 28-26 edge on rebounds.

Adrik Gomez-Esquibel and Nico Doume led the Broncs with 21 points each.

Gomez-Esquibel hit four 3-pointers and, at one stretch in the third period scored 10 straight points for the Broncs, including a pair of 3s.

Tyelor Holloway had five assists and Colter Oldham three to pace Lakin, and Dru Patterson had two steals.

Doume collected 13 rebounds and Oldham eight.

Lakin (22-1) enters the state tournament as the No.-2 seed behind Galena (22-0).

The Broncs will face Silver Lake (18-5) Thursday in the 6 p.m. game. With a win, they would face the winner of Cheney (22-1) and Goodland (20-3).

Galena will face KC-Bishop Ward (16-7) while Hesston (21-2) will face Burlington (20-3) in the other half of the draw.

With a win in the first round, Lakin would play Friday at 8 p.m. in the semifinal round.

The state tournament will be played at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

In Lakin's title appearance in 2002, the Broncs finished 26-0 with head coach Bob Reed and assistants Shawn Michaelis and Larry Dasenbrock.