Louisburg boys use big second half to push past Frontenac

By Andy Brown
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Updated: December 13, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg sophomore Weston Guetterman dribbles past a defender during a game earlier this season. The Wildcats outscored Frontenac 43-20 in the second half Tuesday to record their third win of the season.

FRONTENAC – For the second game in a row, the Louisburg boys basketball team found itself in a tight game.

Well, at least until halftime anyway.

After falling in overtime last week, the Wildcats put it into a different gear Tuesday at Frontenac High School. Louisburg, which trailed by a point at halftime, recorded 43 points in the second half and left with a 69-47 win over Frontenac.

It was a dominant second half that saw the Wildcats outscore the Raiders, 43-20, in the final two quarters to pull away for an easy win.

“I thought we played a complete game,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We started off a little slow. It took us awhile to figure out their 1-3-1 zone, but we finally started attacking it instead of trying to just pass it around. We were really good in the second half. We went with a bigger lineup so we tried out a 2-3 zone and it was really effective.”

The Wildcats put their three biggest players in Madden Rutherford, Noah Hill and Dylan DeShazer, on the back side of that 2-3 zone and it caused problems for the Raiders. Their size allowed guards Brayden Gage and Kohl Vogel to harass the ball up top.

Louisburg forced 19 turnovers on the night and scored 27 points off those mistakes as they were able pull away in the second half. Louisburg went on a 13-2 run late in the third quarter to get up on the Raiders.

“Those three (Noah, Dylan, Madden) are really long and can take up space, so it allowed Brayden and Kohl to be more aggressive up top,” Pfannenstiel said. “It really frustrated Frontenac and they didn’t ever seem to get into a rhythm. We played great team basketball.”

Vogel was a the team’s catalyst offensively for the second straight game as he led Louisburg with 19 points and had three assists and three steals. DeShazer, who missed the last game with an injury, was effective for the Wildcats as he finished with 17 points and led the team with nine rebounds.

Gage also scored in double figures for Louisburg with 13 points and had a team-high four assists and four steals. Hill was close to a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds. As a team, the Wildcats connected on eight 3-pointers.

“Our kids do not care who gets the stats,” Pfannenstiel said. “We are rebounding the ball pretty well so far this season. We have confidence that if they miss, we can get the defensive rebound and go. I was very proud of our effort and energy. The kids represented Louisburg well.”

Louisburg will face a tough test this Friday when it travels to Piper, which is currently ranked No. 2 in Class 4A. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

LOU 17 9 24 19– 69

FRN 14 13 13 7– 47

LOUISBURG (3-1): Kohl Vogel 7-14 3-4 19; Dylan DeShazer 5-8 5-5 17; Brayden Gage 5-9 0-0 13; Noah Hill 3-6 2-4 8; Weston Guetterman 1-3 3-6 5; Ben Guetterman 1-1 0-1 3; Andy Hupp 1-1 0-0 2; Madden Rutherford 0-0 1-4 1; Connor Koesser 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 23-44 15-26 69. 3-point field goals: 8, (Gage 3, Vogel 2, DeShazer 2, B. Guetterman)