Bethany Christian’s Lucas Brownsberger-Keyes lunges for a rebound while LCA’s Braxton Keller contends. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WATERFORD MILLS – Still chasing the elusive carrot dressed in royal and white, LCA found itself down the rabbit hole once again Tuesday night.

Unable to maintain any resistance in the paint or on the glass, Bethany Christian made a bevy of extra opportunities count in a 45-22 boys basketball win over Lakeland Christian Academy at the Mennolands.

LCA’s Elijah Raymond sizes up Lucas Brownsberger-Keyes.

It seemed to be a minor moment among the bigger picture, but it turned to be a pivotal moment of the game. With BC holding a 15-7 lead in the second quarter and both offenses stuck in neutral, Jack Von Gunten grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back in the hoop. The 17-7 score would remain that way for the final 5:01 of the half, but would exemplify the type of night LCA would have.

“Our first-shot defense was very good tonight, but we gave up way too many offensive rebounds,” said LCA head coach Chris Hohm. “A lot of those were 50-50 balls that we got caught standing and watching and they chased them down. A couple times one of their guys burst three of ours and snagged the ball. Those things were killer.”

That scoreless stretch of the first half saw LCA miss a handful of close-range shots that Hohm noted could and should have changed the pace of the half. Having to claw its way back to 10 in the third quarter, Josh McDaniel hit a floater to get the score to 24-14 Bruins, but would be the closest the Cougars would get the rest of the way. Bethany would soon have Lucas Brownsberger-Keyes hit a three to put the Bruins up 13 and away the game went.

LCA would outrebound BC 18-15 on the night, but couldn’t find the right mix of made shots and caroms on the other end to slow down the Bruins. Jeremy Gross led LCA with seven boards and a bucket, but the notable seven on the night was points by Josh McDaniel.

Bethany deliberately and unmistakenly shadowed, bumped, grabbed and talked at McDaniel all night. Literally all 32 minutes. Von Gunten drew much of the assignment and did a yeoman’s job of hounding McDaniel, whether it was during the run of play or boxing out McDaniel on free throws 25-30 feet from the basket. The streaky shooter for LCA didn’t score until the third quarter and was held to just three made field goals.

Jeremy Gross pulls down one of his seven rebounds for the Cougars.

It didn’t show up in the box score, but the assignments on McDaniel went a long way for the Bruins to remain undefeated against LCA in all 12 matchups going back to the 2008 season.

“It’s not the first time it has happened, but it’s still a tough thing for a kid to fight that for 32 minutes,” Hohm said of the attention paid to McDaniel Tuesday night. “Josh did a good job with it. He’s still learning on how to exploit teams when they do that. He fought hard and I’m really proud of they way he didn’t give or didn’t let it shut him down. But they did a great job of swarming him.”

Seth Brenneman led Bethany (1-2) with 21 points and five rebounds while Brownsberger-Keyes added 12 points and four boards.

In a moment that stretched past the rivalry, Bethany’s Keshawn Smith injured his left leg in the first half and did not return to the game. Seated opposite his team bench for the second half and on crutches, LCA showed tremendous class during the postgame by coming to shake Smith’s hand and check on him before leaving the gymnasium.

The JV game was all Bethany in a 61-19 final. Tristen Moore had a monster game for the Bruins with 30 points. Trenton Parker had eight points for the Cougars.

The Cougars sit at 1-1 overall and will host Argos Friday night, the Dragons fresh off a win Tuesday against Tippecanoe Valley. Bethany visits Prairie Heights Saturday night.

LCA’s Noah Twombly takes a shot over BC’s Seth Brenneman Tuesday night.