Wildcats rally to beat No. 1 Seabury for third place at Baldwin

The Louisburg boys basketball team receives its third-place trophy and celebrates its comeback victory over Bishop Seabury on Saturday at the Baldwin Invitational.

BALDWIN CITY – Everything seemed to be going against the Louisburg boys basketball team.

The Wildcats had to play two games in a span of six hours, they dealt with foul trouble and found themselves down 15 points in the third quarter to the No. 1 ranked team in Class 2A in the third-place game of the Baldwin Invitational.

Not exactly the recipe for a comeback.

However, that is just what the Wildcats did.

Louisburg overcame a 15-point deficit to force overtime, and took advantage of its newfound opportunity, as the Wildcats pulled away for a 70-63 win over Bishop Seabury for its highest finish ever in the Baldwin Invitational.

“It was a huge win for us,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We knew going into this tournament that we needed to get a signature win and Seabury is a very, very good team. They have good guards and they have good post players inside and they were putting it on us in the first half. We challenged the kids at halftime and questioned their toughness a little bit because they were able to do whatever they wanted inside and had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half.

“To me it was all about effort. It wasn’t that our kids weren’t playing hard, because I think they always do, but there is another level of effort in us and obviously they showed that in the second half. They went into an offensive funk and we hit some shots. We had to take it one possession at time and we did.”

The Wildcats (5-5) whittled away at the Seabury lead slowly but surely and it started with sophomore Julian Margrave as he scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and in overtime. He also added seven rebounds and two blocks.

Margrave hit a pair of free throws to cut Seabury’s lead to five heading into the fourth quarter and the Wildcats started to get its momentum from there.

It was still a five-point deficit when senior Garrett Rolofson made back-to-back baskets, including one on an assist from Ben Guetterman to make it 55-54. Then, after another defensive stop, Guetterman knocked down a 3-pointer with under a minute left to put the Wildcats up 57-55.

Seabury’s Zach Bloch hit a jumper to tie the game with just seconds remaining to force overtime, but that didn’t slow down the Wildcats much.

In the overtime, junior Weston Guetterman drove the lane for a basket to the give the lead right back to Louisburg and the Wildcats wouldn’t let it go. Ben Guetterman made another 3-pointer to increase the lead to five and the Wildcats converted six straight free throws, including four from Margrave, to secure the win.

“It was a great win,” Margrave said. “We were able to come back thanks to a great effort from a lot of guys. Pfannenstiel gave us a good talk at halftime and you could tell he was pretty serious. That really gave us motivation for the second half.

“We needed everyone and everyone showed out, whether it was a big offensive rebound, a defensive rebound, a steal or even just great defense that doesn’t go in the stat book. That is the stuff that helps us win and it is not always about points.”

Ben Guetterman had a big game for the Wildcats despite picking up four fouls in the first half. Ben played sparingly in the third quarter, but finished the game with 19 points and six rebounds.

Margrave and Guetterman were later named to the All-Tournament Team for their performance in their three games at Baldwin.

Weston Guetterman also scored in double figures with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists as he and Margrave played nearly the entire game. Rolofson was three assists away from a triple-double for the Wildcats as he finished with 10 points and a team-high 10 rebounds and seven assists.

“In the first half we had decent looks, but the ball just wasn’t going in the basket,” Pfannenstiel said. “We had to execute better in the second half and I thought we did that. Julian was big for us and Ben played really well, especially having to play with some fouls. Overall, I think everyone played to their role and it was a good team win.”

Louisburg has another busy week ahead of itself and it begins today when it travels to Eudora for a make-up contest. The Wildcats will then play Spring Hill and Baldwin on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

LOU               15           6             21           16           12 – 70

SEA                17           17           13           11           5 – 63

LOUISBURG (5-5): Julian Margrave 8-12 7-8 26; Ben Guetterman 7-18 2-2 19; Weston Guetterman 4-10 5-7 13; Garrett Rolofson 5-8 0-2 10; Charlie Peters 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 25-56 14-21 70. 3-point field goals: 6, (B. Guetterman 3, Margrave 3)

Wildcats fall to state-ranked Harmon

Louisburg knew it was going to have its hands full against Harmon, the No. 3-ranked team in Class 6A, in the semifinals Saturday morning in the Baldwin Invitational.

Harmon showed why it is considered one of the best teams in the state.

The Wildcats fell behind early and could never catch back up as they fell 68-46. Augusta would go on to beat Harmon in the championship game, 54-46.

Harmon jumped out to a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and led 36-15 at halftime. It was a start the Wildcats couldn’t recover from.

Sophomore Julian Margrave led Louisburg in scoring with 18 points, four rebounds and two steals. Senior Michael Waldron and junior Charlie Peters each finished with eight points, while Peters had a team-high seven rebounds.

LOU               7             8             16           15 – 46

HAR               21           15           17           15 – 68

LOUISBURG: Julian Margrave 8-18 0-0 18; Michael Waldron 4-5 1-1 8; Charlie Peters 4-5 0-0 8; Weston Guetterman 2-9 2-2 6; Michael Seuferling 1-3 0-0 2; Maverick Rockers 1-2 0-1 2; Ben Guetterman 1-9 0-0 2. Totals: 20-59 3-4 46. 3-point field goals: 3, (Margrave 2, Waldron)

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