Bigger Paola squad downs Louisburg

By Andy Brown
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Updated: February 5, 2016

Wildcat junior Grant Harding passes the ball off to an open teammate during Louisburg’s home game with Paola on Tuesday at Louisburg High School. Harding finished with 19 points, but the Wildcats lost 65-39 to the No. 3 ranked Panthers.

For the first quarter, the Louisburg boys basketball team had it all going its way against No. 3 ranked Paola on Tuesday at Louisburg High School.

The Wildcats held a three-point lead going into the second quarter and the momentum on its home floor.

All that started to change – and quickly.

Paola went on a 16-2 run to start the second quarter and never looked back in a 65-39 victory over Louisburg. The Wildcats also lost their fifth in a row, but Louisburg coach Jason Nelson saw a lot of positives from his team.

“It was much better at times,” Nelson said. “We just played one of the top teams in the state, and if we would have played that way for the last week-and-a-half, we would be in a lot better spot than we are right now. We knew we couldn’t let them get hot and we did a good job contesting them in the first half, but they are a fantastic team.”

The Panthers won the battle underneath the basket as they had a decided advantage. Paola starters Mason McDow and Alex Wilson each stand at 6 feet, 7 inches, while reserve forward Tanner Moala stands at 6-5.

Louisburg junior Sam Guetterman pulls up for a jumper Tuesday during the Wildcats’s home game with Paola.

Louisburg tried different defenses to give Paola multiple looks, but in the end, the Panthers scored around the basket and got several second-chance opportunities.

“They are huge,” Nelson said. “We are smallish for the most part and I thought we handled it as best as we could. We couldn’t run zone for a prolonged period of time against them because they were going to find the weaknesses and exploit it. We were just trying to change up the zones and run some man defense mixed in.

“We were blocking out for the most part, and that is something we have been preaching in practice, but every single time that we didn’t – they exploited it.”

The Wildcats (6-8) got out to a fast start thanks to Grant Harding. The Louisburg junior scored 10 of his team-high 19 points in the first quarter and helped the Wildcats to a 13-7 lead.

Louisburg took a 15-12 lead into the second quarter, but Paola went on its 16-2 run to build an 11-point lead with four minutes left in the first half. Wildcat junior Sam Guetterman hit a pair of baskets to keep the deficit at single digits, but the Panthers went on a mini 7-2 run to take a 38-23 halftime lead.

Offensively, the Wildcats didn’t have enough left to rally from that big of a deficit. Louisburg managed just 16 second-half points.

Along with Harding’s 19 points and seven rebounds, junior T.J. Dover added eight points in the loss, while Guetterman added five rebounds.

The Wildcats will try and snap their losing streak tonight when they host Eudora for homecoming. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m., with the crowning of the king and queen set before the contest.

Nelson knows his team is going through a tough stretch at the moment, but he saw signs that they are starting to come around.

“Compared to where we have been it is a much better mentality,” Nelson said. “There are lots of things to work on obviously, and it is not going to get any easier with Eudora looming, but this game tested our moxie and we will see how we respond against Eudora.”

LOUISBURG 15 8 11 5 – 39

PAOLA 12 26 14 13 – 65

LOUISBURG (6-8): Grant Harding 6-13 5-6 19; T.J. Dover 4-6 0-0 8; Sam Guetterman 2-5 1-2 5; Dalton Ribordy 2-2 1-3 5; Ben Minster 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 15-38 7-11 39. 3-point field goals: 2, (Harding 2)