Wildcats suffer overtime loss to Anderson County

Louisburg senior Kohl Vogel rises up for a shot around four Anderson County defenders Friday in Garnett. Vogel scored a game-high 27 points in the Wildcats’ loss to Anderson County

GARNETT – Friday’s game between Louisburg and Anderson County featured more twists and turns than your traditional soap opera.

Both teams went on big runs and went back and forth at each other on the scoreboard. Neither team could pull away, and one knocked down a shot in the final seconds in regulation to force overtime.

It was a contest where both teams had an opportunity to put the game away in their favor, but unfortunately for Louisburg, the Wildcats just ran out of time.

Anderson County went on a big run to start overtime and knocked off Louisburg, 80-74, and the Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season.

“The locker room is dead in there,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They are hurting for sure. If you want to try and spin it as a positive, it is good to know that they care. As coaches, we know that they do because of the time that they put into this and the summer that they had. To be able to play well in this type of game is good to see.

“We are going to see these types of games in the Frontier League all season. We are going to continue to get better and use this as a momentum builder and not a step back. Our program took a step forward with how we played.”

The Wildcats (2-1) got big performances from several players throughout the game. Senior Kohl Vogel had his best game offensively as a Wildcat as he scored a game-high 27 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

Fellow senior Brayden Gage hit several big shots as he finished with 18 points and junior Madden Rutherford was big on the glass with a career-best 23 rebounds. Senior Noah Hill was also close to a double-double with seven points and nine rebounds.

However, the biggest moment came thanks to a sophomore.

With the Wildcats down by three points, and less than five seconds left, sophomore guard Weston Guetterman knocked down a 3-pointer to keep the Wildcats in it and sent the game to overtime.

“It was huge shot and it takes a lot of confidence for a kid to step up and shoot that shot,” Pfannenstiel said. “That is kind of kid that Weston is. Playing freshman basketball last year, he hit a half-court shot to win the game, so he is that big shot guy. It was a great job by our kids to get the ball to him and to execute that.”

After the opening tip, it appeared the Wildcats were going to run away with their third straight win. Louisburg jumped out to a 14-0 lead to start the game after big baskets from Vogel and Gage.

The lead didn’t last long,however, as Anderson County went on a 20-9 run the rest of the first quarter to cut the Louisburg lead to three.

“We started the game about as well as we have started a game since I have been here,” Pfannenstiel said. “We came out confident and were making plays. Hats off to Anderson County for responding and they made a little run themselves and got it to a back and forth basketball game. I am proud of our guys with how we competed in this type of environment. We were never in this type of game last year and for our kids to play that well in that big of an environment was good to see.”

The Wildcats encountered some foul trouble in the second quarter as Guetterman and Vogel both had to sit with three fouls. Louisburg was already without senior Dylan DeShazer, who was out with an injury, so its bench had to respond and it did.

Sophomore Ben Guetterman came off the bench to score 10 points, all of which came in the second quarter, to help give Louisburg a 43-37 lead at halftime.

However, turnovers were a problem for Louisburg most of the evening, including the second half. The Wildcats committed 30 turnovers on the night, including ones in the fourth quarter and overtime that allowed Anderson County to come back and take the lead.

“Anderson County wants to speed you up and they want you to play fast, and to be honest that is how we like to play, but there are times where we would have had an advantage in the halfcourt,” Pfannenstiel said. “At the same time, it is hard for our kids to get out of that attack mode. We were out of control at times and I think we committed like (30) turnovers and you aren’t going to win many games doing that.

“Anderson County just made some plays there in the second half and overtime to get the win. We had opportunities too, but they just rimmed out and that is how the game of basketball goes sometimes.”

Louisburg will try and get back on the winning track tonight when it travels to Frontenac for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

LOU               23           20           9             15           7 – 74

AC                  20           17           13           17           13– 80

LOUISBURG (2-1): Kohl Vogel 10-19 5-7 27; Brayden Gage 7-12 1-4 18; Ben Guetterman 4-6 2-2 10; Noah Hill 2-7 3-4 7; Weston Guetterman 2-6 0-1 5; Madden Rutherford 2-9 1-2 5; Garrett Rolofson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 28-61 12-20 74. 3-point field goals: 6, (Gage 3, Vogel 2, W.Guetterman 1).