WINONA LAKE – It was a busy day for the Lakeland Christian Academy boys and girls basketball teams. Day one of the two-day Cougar Classic had both LCA teams involved in a pair of games, and a historical milestone highlighted action for the host school.

LCA’s boys team lost both of its pool play games Thursday, falling 37-32 to South Bend Trinity and then 76-56 to Covenant Christian Demotte in its second game. Mixed into the Coventant game was a personal milestone from Josh McDaniel, who became the sixth Cougar in program history to surpass the 1,000-point mark.

The Lady Cougars won its two, games beating South Bend Trinity handily, 38-20, in its first game and escaped game two, 34-33, against Covenant.

Trinity Boys 37, LCA 32

A lackluster first half for LCA doomed what could have been a better finish. Scoring just nine points in the first two quarters, LCA found itself down at least two possessions the entire second half and not able to inch any closer.

A McDaniel two cut Trinity’s lead to 32-27, but the green and white responded immediately with a hoop and harm by Sean Pingel, keeping the lead to five and as close as LCA would get. Trinity would take advantage of a 12-20 free throw performance – given LCA didn’t attempt one in the game – and went 8-13 in the fourth quarter.

Michael Florin paced the Titans with 12 points, going 6-8 from the stripe. Pingel added nine points and a pair of rebounds.

McDaniel led LCA with 11 points and Landon Twombly came through with 10 points.

“I think defensively we did a good job, only giving up 37 points, but we didn’t score enough early on,” said LCA head coach Chris Hohm. “We got out of our game plan. Only scoring nine points in a half isn’t going to put anyone in a good position. We started to score in the second half, but we were trading baskets.”

Covenant Boys 76, LCA 56

The Cougars were outsized from the start, as Covenant used its inside-outside combos to shoot over LCA.

A 9-2 run by the Knights to open the game forced LCA into chase mode. And while the Cougars were able to catch up, eventually tying the game at 17, the sparkability of Covenant would come into play later on.

The moment of the game happened at the 6:59 mark of the third quarter. Opening with a fast break, LCA’s Landon Twombly broke over half court and skipped a pass to McDaniel, who was set up in the corner for an open three. The swish gave the senior guard points number 1,000 through 1,002, causing a timeout for reference of the historical moment. Cheered on by a very vocal group of family and friends with 1-0-0-0 signs in the crowd, a show of class by the Knights had them all congratulate McDaniel in his moment.

“The 1,000-point club has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid,” McDaniel said. “I’ve always loved basketball and this means a lot to me. My sister (Kalyn) played in high school, and that really got me interested in becoming better. She got that fire started in me watching her. Watching the boys at the same time really inspired me to get better.

“It was all going to come in the flow of the game,” continued McDaniel. “The three-pointer was there and I took it, felt like it had a chance. Needing just the one point after halftime, I knew it would eventually come. Even if it wasn’t today, I knew I would get it. I just had to relax and take my time.”

At that point, LCA trailed just 37-34 and were keeping pace. However, the game would soon get away from LCA, as Covenant would immediately go on a 13-4 run, then close the quarter on a 23-8 binge to take a commanding 60-42 lead into the fourth.

“We just had to face it that Covenant was the better team,” Hohm said. “We were just hanging, hanging, hanging and that was the run we made. But then they came back and got a couple baskets, hit a three, and really took over. What we worried about with Covenant coming in is what got us.”

McDaniel, who entered the game just nine points shy of the milestone, finished with 19 points and actually pass both Jay Mathisen (995) and David James (1,006) to move into fifth all-time in LCA scoring. John Franklin is the all-time leading scorer in LCA history with 1,504 points.

One other mark for LCA in the game was the career-high 14 points scored by Noah Twombly.

Covenant had Ben Lins hit for 19 points to lead the way, with Gavin Herrema with 15 points, Cade Walsma with 12 points and Andrew Ingram with 10 points.

LCA Girls 38, Trinity 20

A hot start for LCA was the ticket, as LCA controlled the game from the opening tip.

A 17-4 run into the second quarter had LCA hold Trinity without a good look at the basket for more than five minutes. Trinity spent its fair share of time chasing Hope Fancil, and while it did, others got involved. Tori Calizo got a pair of buckets, and a dish from Fancil to Maddie Paris near the end of the second quarter gave LCA a 26-7 lead at the break.

Fancil would still impact the game, scoring 15 points to lead all scorers. Calizo would score seven of her nine points in the first half, and Brady Gross ended with five points.

“Coming off the long break, it was good to come out like that and get our girls some confidence,” said LCA head coach Allison Kauffman. “I was pleased with their patience at the beginning. A lot of times we have turnovers at the beginning of the game that sets us back. We didn’t have that, and it seemed to help our offense flow a lot better.”

Seven Titans scored, but only Claire Hurshberger had more than three points, finishing with six points.

“Defensively, we wanted to protect the paint, and knowing they had a couple girls that can score inside, we wanted to limit offensive rebounds and easy looks,” said Kauffman. “The girls did a great job collapsing on the inside and forcing them outside the paint.”

LCA Girls 34, Covenant Christian 33

In the closest game of the entire Cougar Classic grid, LCA managed to run 2-0 in the pool with the one-point victory.

The Lady Cougars held the Knights to just two points in the fourth quarter of what was already a low-scoring matchup.

Fancil scored 15 points and added three blocks, three steals, and a pair of rebounds and assists to overcome seven turnovers. Calizo had 10 points, six boards, four blocks and three steals, and Anna Reimink added nine points, four boards, four steals, three blocks and two dimes. Those were the lone scorers for LCA, although Gross added six boards and three blocks.

Maria Nanninga and Katelyn Porte combined for 19 points for the Knights.

LCA’s win puts the Lady Cougars in the championship game of its second straight tournament, having played two weeks ago in the finals of the Bethany Christian tournament. Kalamazoo will meet LCA in the final at 4 p.m. Friday at Grace College.

A rundown of the day’s scores are:

9:30 am (B) – LCA 32 vs. Trinity 37

9:30 am (G) – Clinton 39 vs. Granger 51

11:00 am (B) – Clinton 47 vs. Granger 35

11:00 am (G) – LCA 38 vs. Trinity 20

12:30 pm (B) – Covenant 76 vs. LCA 56

12:30 pm (G) – Granger 42 vs. Kalamazoo 64

2:00 pm (B) – Granger 59 vs. Noble-Whitley 41

2:00 pm (G) – Covenant 33 vs. LCA 34

3:30 pm (B) – Trinity 40 vs. Covenant 61

3:30 pm (G) – Kalamazoo 61vs. Clinton 39

5:00 pm (B) – Noble-Whitley 37 vs. Clinton 60

5:00 pm (G) – Trinity 32 vs. Covenant 47

Friday’s schedule (all games at Grace College):

10 a.m. – girls 5th place: Trinity v Clinton

11:30 a.m. – boys 5th place: LCA v Noble Whitley

1 p.m. – girls 3rd place: Covenant v. Granger

2:30 p.m. – boys 3rd place: Trinity v. Granger

4 p.m. – girls 1st place: LCA v. Kalamazoo

5:30 p.m. – boys 1st place: Covenant v. Clinton