Frontenac boys run away from Louisburg

Louisburg senior Jayce Geiman gets the ball across half-court thanks to a screen from teammate Dalton Ribordy on Tuesday during the Wildcats’ home game against Frontenac. The Wildcats fell 71-59.

 

The Louisburg High School boys basketball team hoped to get its second consecutive win when the Wildcats returned home for the first time in three weeks.

Frontenac had other plans.

The Raiders scored a lot of points in transition and limited the Louisburg offense with their zone defense as they handed the Wildcats a 71-59 loss in what was up-and-down game that featured a lot of free throws.

“We knew we had to do coming in and we didn’t assert ourselves very well,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “We didn’t stick to the script the entire time and that hurt us. When we did do that in the second half, we started getting to the line and getting some weak side buckets, stuff that we should have started doing all along.”

The two teams combined for 55 free throws and Frontenac made more free throws (23) than Louisburg (20) attempted. While that was a big difference in the game, Louisburg also struggled from the field against the Raiders’ zone defense as it shot just 32 percent for the contest.

Louisburg and Frontenac went back-and-forth in the first half as the lead changed hands seven times and had seven more ties.

Frontenac pulled away in the third quarter as it outscored Louisburg 20-10 to build a 12-point lead going into the fourth quarter. The Raiders’ lead expanded to 15 before the Wildcats cut it to nine on Jayce Geiman’s 3-pointer with less than four minutes left in the game.

The Raiders stopped Louisburg’s mini-run to put the lead back up to 17 with two minutes left and sealed the win. Frontenac got those points in transition off Wildcat misses and from the free-throw line.

“All that was a manifestation of our lack of communication,” Nelson said. “I don’t know remember the last time that our rotation was that slow, but when we don’t communicate or assert ourselves then stuff like this happens.

“When our shots were falling, it can carry over to the defensive end and guys hang their heads a little bit. But maybe that is on me for not motivating them enough.”

Geiman led the Wildcat scoring with 17 points, including five 3-pointers against the Frontenac zone. Senior Grant Harding also finished in double figures with 16 points, while junior Desmond Doles came off the bench to add eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Senior T.J. Dover added six rebounds in the loss, while junior Dalton Ribordy and senior Sam Guetterman had five a piece.

Louisburg will try and get a Frontier League win Friday when it hosts De Soto for homecoming. Tipoff is set for approximately 7:30 p.m.

“If we come out and set the tempo then good things are going to happen,” Nelson said. “If we are too reactive then we leave ourselves open to bad things happening. These kids know how to do it, we just have to be consistent and play through adversity.”

 

LOU               11           16           10           22 – 59

FRON            14           15           20           22 – 71

LOUISBURG (3-5): Jayce Geiman 17, Grant Harding 16, Desmond Doles 8, Sam Guetterman 6, T.J Dover 6, Dalton Stone 3, Dalton Ribordy 2. Totals: 20-62 12-20 59. 3-point field goals: 6, (Geiman 5, Stone)