Hot-shooting Cyclones down Louisburg

Louisburg senior Sam Guetterman battles for a rebound with a pair of Ottawa players Friday at Louisburg High School. The Wildcats couldn’t slow down Ottawa as they fell 75-60.

There weren’t many teams that were going to slow down the Ottawa boys basketball squad Friday.

Louisburg gave it a try, but the Cyclones didn’t miss much — more specifically the duo of Isaac McCullough and Perry Carroll. The Ottawa teammates scored 26 points each as the Cyclones downed the Wildcats 75-60 at Louisburg High School.

The Cyclones shot 59 percent from the field and knocked down eight 3-pointers as the Wildcats tried several different things to climb back in the game.

“We did everything well that was in our game plan except blocking out and preventing offensive rebounds,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “I think we gave up five or six offensive rebounds and that is too much. It hurt us in the first half, but aside from that we contested their shots.

“We went through progressions offensively and did some good things there, but I have never seen anything like that in what Ottawa did. We answered as best we could, but on a night like that, not much more we could do.”

Louisburg’s T.J. Dover wins a jump ball Friday against Ottawa.

Senior Grant Harding did his best to try and keep the Wildcats (6-10) in it as he scored a season-high 31 points, including five 3-pointers. Harding shot well from the field as he made 8 of 17 attempts and was aggressive all night in attacking the Cyclone defense.

“Grant has been working really hard at his shot and we have all been waiting for it to come together and it did (against Ottawa),” Nelson said. “We have all seen what kind of shooter Grant is, but the biggest blessing with him not shooting as well as he wants is it has taught him to attack the rim more. Once his shots starts falling more, it will really make him difficult to stop”

Defense didn’t factor much into the first quarter as the two teams pushed the ball up the floor. Ottawa, which had a three-point lead midway through the first, went on a mini 7-0 run, to push the lead to 10.

Senior Sam Guetterman hit a 3-pointer and junior Desmond Doles cut the Cyclone lead in half, but Ottawa went on a another 7-1 run to end the quarter and the Wildcats wouldn’t get the lead to under 10 again.

Guetterman was second on the team in scoring with seven points and five rebounds, while senior T.J. Dover had six points and a team-high six rebounds. Senior Dalton Stone also finished with six points.

Louisburg will try and snap its four-game losing streak Tuesday when it hosts Baldwin. The Wildcats have defeated the Bulldogs three times already this season.

LOU               18           15           13           14 – 60

OTT               28           20           16           11 – 75

LOUISBURG (6-10): Grant Harding 31, Sam Guetterman 7, T.J. Dover 6, Dalton Stone 5, Jayce Geiman 5, Dalton Ribordy 3, Desmond Doles 2. Totals: 20-46 13-17 60. 3-point field goals: 9, (Harding 5, Stone 2, Geiman, Guetterman)