Louisburg can’t hold off Fort Scott in loss

By Andy Brown
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Updated: March 10, 2015

Louisburg senior Corbin Wertz goes up for a basket Thursday during the semifinals of the Class 4A Division I substate tournament at Paola High School. The Wildcats fell 65-49 to Fort Scott.

PAOLA – For one half anyway, the Louisburg boys basketball team went toe-to-toe with No. 1 seed Fort Scott.

The second half was a different story.

Fort Scott found its stroke and used a big third quarter to eliminate Louisburg 65-49 on Thursday in the Class 4A Division I substate semifinals at Paola High School. The Wildcats ended their season with a 6-15 record.

“We played as well as we’ve played all year in the first half,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “We were hitting out shots, contesting theirs and limiting their second chance opportunities.

“In the second half, we weren’t hitting our shots as well as we had in the first half, and they went on a little spurt where they hit three contested 3-pointers. To further complicate matters, we had a little foul trouble and consequently our rotation was a little off defensively which led to us not being as aggressive on the boards.”

The two teams traded leads in the first half and Louisburg held a 20-18 advantage with under three minutes left in the second quarter. Fort Scott went on a mini 5-0 run before halftime to grab the lead back.

Louisburg senior Nathan Moore made it just a one-point halftime deficit when he hit a runner in the lane with five seconds left to give the Wildcats a little momentum.

Fort Scott didn’t waste much time in the third quarter as it went on a 13-4 run to start and the Wildcats all of a sudden found themselves down double digits four minutes into the second half.

Sophomore Jayce Geiman came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers late in the third and Louisburg trailed by 12 points going into the final quarter. It was as close as the Wildcats would get.

Fort Scott defeated Paola in the championship game Saturday to move on to the state tournament.

Senior Corbin Wertz led the Wildcats in scoring with 19 points and Moore, another senior, finished with eight. Wertz, Moore and senior Brady Lambeth all played their final game for the Wildcats.

“Corbin, Nathan and Brady exemplified this program for the two years I’ve been responsible for it,” Nelson said. “They worked to improve, imparted their knowledge on their younger teammates and always believed in the progress of our program. They will be missed tremendously but their legacy will be seen through the progress and effort of next years and the teams that follow.”

It was an up and down season for the Wildcats as they finished with six wins that could have turned into even more. However, Nelson saw a lot of progress from his team despite several obstacles put in its way.

“When the season started, if you’d have told anybody on our staff that we’d have a broken leg, broken toe and a severely pulled hamstring which led to six sophomores on our varsity roster we would have been mortified,” Nelson said. “Once this happened, it turned into one of the most enjoyable experiences of my professional career. We had a young roster that grew leaps and bounds by being forced into an adverse situation and through the frustration, the yelling from the coaches, and uncertainty, each and every one of them improved dramatically.”

LOUISBURG 14 8 11 16 – 49

FORT SCOTT 15 8 22 20 – 65

LOUISBURG (6-15): Corbin Wertz 19; Nathan Moore 8; Grant Harding 7; Jayce Geiman 6; Brady Lambeth 5; T.J. Dover 2; Sam Guetterman 2. Totals: 20 6-8 49. 3-point field goals: 3, (Geiman 2, Lambeth)