Louisburg comes up short at Baldwin Invite
Louisburg senior Alex Dunn dives on the floor for a loose ball with a Bishop Ward player Saturday during the seventh-place game of the Baldwin Invitational. The Wildcats went 0-3 on the week.
BALDWIN CITY – It was supposed to be the perfect time for the Louisburg boys basketball team to take an even bigger step forward.
Louisburg entered the Baldwin Invitational Tournament last week looking to build on its three-game winning streak. Instead, the Wildcats went the opposite direction.
Dealing with different illnesses and injuries in the three games, Louisburg wasn’t able to take advantage of that momentum as it went 0-3 in the tournament, including a 51-44 loss to Bishop Ward on Saturday in the seventh-place game.
Louisburg (6-6) lost to Harmon in the opener on Jan. 20 and then to Wellsville on Friday in the consolation semifinals.
“I could not be more disappointed at the outcome of the tourney,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “Coming in playing the best ball I’ve seen an LHS team play since I’ve been here, at 6-3 and as the No. 2 seed, I felt we were ready to do damage.
“For whatever reason, we deviated from our game plans and practice principles and were tentative and lacking the mentality as a team that led us to the success we’d experienced to this point.”
It is difficult for many teams to get prepared to play a seventh-place game and both teams looked the part early on Saturday. Louisburg scored just six points in the opening frame, but held a one-point lead despite eight turnovers.
Sophomore Dalton Ribordy puts up a shot over a Harmon defender on Jan. 20 in Baldwin.
In the second quarter, Bishop Ward came to life as they outscored Louisburg 21-10 before halftime to take a 10-point lead. After a back-and-forth third quarter, the Wildcats started to chip away at Ward’s lead in the fourth.
Louisburg went on a 10-3 run to start the final quarter thanks to six points from junior forward T.J. Dover and four from junior Grant Harding. The Wildcats trailed by just three points with 3 minutes and 30 seconds left in the game, but Ward went on a 8-1 run of its own to push the lead back up.
Junior guard Jayce Geiman hit a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch to keep the game close in the final seconds, but the Wildcats couldn’t get all the way back.
Geiman and Harding each led Louisburg with 12 points on the day and Dover added six in the loss. Senior starting guard Mitchell McLellan was forced to sit out the final two games of the tournament with an injury, while different players were under the weather throughout the week.
However, Nelson knows he watched a different team last week.
“In our previous, successful games, we valued each possession and exerted our will on teams,” Nelson said. “In the tournament, we were reactive rather than proactive and we suffered because of it. Our boys fought hard, but our team mentality wasn’t syncing and we forgot our identity.”
The Wildcats will try and stop their losing streak Thursday when they travel to Spring Hill for their lone contest of the week. Tipoff is set for approximately 7:30 p.m.
“We need to get back to being us,” Nelson said. “The team that attacked the rim in transition and in the 1/2 court game, moved the ball with the pass and rotated the defense is the team we need to be, and I need to do a better job of getting us there, I guess.
“Defensively, we played pretty well, though we did allow a few too many offensive boards, but we just couldn’t translate that into the energy needed on the offensive end, and for that, the onus has to fall on me.”
LOUISBURG 6 10 7 21 – 44
BISHOP WARD 5 21 7 18 – 51
LOUISBURG (6-6): Jayce Geiman 12, Grant Harding 12, T.J. Dover 6, Dalton Ribordy 4, Ben Minster 4, Jacob Welsh 3, Alex Dunn 2, Jake Hill 1. Totals: 15 10-19 44. 3-point field goals: 4, (Geiman 4)
Wellsville edges Louisburg
Despite a 26-point performance from junior Grant Harding, Louisburg couldn’t quite overcome Wellsville on Friday in a 60-55 loss in the consolation semifinals.
After an even first quarter, the Wildcat offense couldn’t get going as Wellsville outscored Louisburg 12-5 before halftime and took a seven-point lead. The Wildcats came to life with 19 points in the third quarter to cut the Wellsville lead to one, but Louisburg couldn’t get the stops it needed in the final period.
Harding finished with 26 points after he shot 10 for 21 from the floor, including three 3-pointers. Junior Sam Guetterman, senior Alex Dunn and junior T.J. Dover all had six points.
LOUISBURG 15 5 19 16 – 55
WELLSVILLE 17 12 11 20 – 60
LOUISBURG: Grant Harding 10-21 3-5 26; Sam Guetterman 3-6 0-1 6; Alex Dunn 3-4 0-1 6; T.J. Dover 3-6 0-0 6; Jayce Geiman 2-5 0-0 5; Dalton Ribordy 2-2 0-0 4; Ben Minster 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 24-46 3-7 55. 3-point field goals: 4, (Harding 3, Geiman)
Turnovers haunt Louisburg in opener
Louisburg got off to the start it was looking for in the opener of the Baldwin Invitational on Jan. 20 against Harmon, but it didn’t have the finish.
Harmon scored 18 points off Louisburg turnovers and the Wildcats didn’t have enough to catch up in a 62-47 loss.
The Wildcats held a 12-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter, but Harmon went on a 13-2 run to end the first half and took a 10-point lead into halftime.
Louisburg faced the same deficit going into the fourth, but Grant Harding hit a pair of 3-pointers and Sam Guetterman made a basket to cut the Harmon lead to four with 4:23 left in the game.
Turnovers and missed shots led to a 14-0 Harmon run to all but put the game out of reach for Louisburg.
Harding led Louisburg with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, while Guetterman and T.J. Dover also scored in double figures with 10.
LOUISBURG 12 6 14 15 – 47
HARMON 11 17 15 19 – 62
LOUISBURG: Grant Harding 7-16 0-0 18; Sam Guetterman 4-8 2-3 10; T.J. Dover 5-8 0-3 10; Mitchell McLellan 3-5 0-0 6; Ben Minster 1-2 0-0 2; Dalton Ribordy 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 21-44 3-8 47. 3-point field goals: 4, (Harding 4)