Shooting woes hurt Wildcats in loss to Spring Hill

Louisburg sophomore Ben Guetterman tries to drive to the basket Friday during the Wildcats’ home game against Spring Hill.

The opportunity to get a big home win for the Louisburg boys basketball team was laid out for the Wildcats to take.

Louisburg had just gone on a run to take a five-point lead going into the fourth quarter Friday against Spring Hill. The momentum was all the side of the Wildcats, but unfortunately for Louisburg, the final period was all Spring Hill.

The Wildcats struggled offensively in the fourth quarter and the Broncos took advantage as they handed Louisburg a 50-43 loss.

For much of the game, the Wildcat defense was the difference as they forced 16 Spring Hill turnovers, including several that came off a full-court press. Offensively, however, Louisburg managed just six points in the final eight minutes and Spring Hill mounted the comeback.

“Spring Hill turned the ball over quite a bit and I think we had a lot to do with that,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “Our slow-down press kind of caused them some problems and we made them uncomfortable. We have to be able to execute off that. We had the lead going into the fourth and we always tend to have one of those bad quarters where we score in the single digits and you are not going to win many games when you have quarters like that.”

Louisburg struggled shooting the ball for much of the night as it shot just 29 percent from the field, and outside of senior Kohl Vogel, who finished with a game-high 18 points, the Wildcats didn’t have anyone else score in double figures.

Junior Michael Waldron and sophomore Ben Guetterman each finished with eight points, and both connected on 3-pointers at big moments in the game.

“I thought Waldron and Ben shot the ball well for us, but overall we were like 4-20 from 3-point range,” Pfannenstiel said. “If we are going to shoot that many, then we better start hitting some and we need to figure out if we are shooters or not. If not, then we have to find other ways to put the ball in the basket. You have to step up and make plays in games like this and they just made more than we did, especially in the fourth.”

Spring Hill took a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Wildcats battled back to trim the Bronco lead just one at halftime. Louisburg then went on a 7-1 run to end the third to grab a 37-32 advantage.

Vogel scored a basket and two free throws during that run, while Guetterman hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats some momentum.

The Wildcats, however, had a hard time containing Spring Hill’s Brennan Feeback. The Bronco senior hit several big shots as he scored a game-high 20 points and also had 15 rebounds.

“Feeback made some great plays for them as well and we needed to take away his opportunities and eliminate their best players,” Pfannenstiel said. “We took care of the ball well. We had some bad turnovers, but 10 turnovers is by far our least of the season and I thought that was a positive. We were patient on offense, but we have to find ways to score and shoot the ball better from the outside.”

Louisburg will try and bounce back today when it travels to Paola in what is the first of three games this week. The Wildcats will also to travel to Baldwin on Wednesday before hosting Ottawa on Friday for homecoming.

“The good thing about basketball is you don’t have to wait long to get right back on the court,” Pfannenstiel said. “We have a busy week coming with three games this week and playing Paola is always a big game for our players and we played them well there last year. Hopefully we can turn things around.”

LOU               10           12           15           6 – 43

SH                  17           6             9             18 – 50

LOUISBURG (5-7): Kohl Vogel 6-15 6-6 18; Ben Guetterman 3-5 0-0 8; Michael Waldron 3-7 0-0 8; Noah Hill 2-4 0-0 4; Madden Rutherford 1-8 1-4 3; Dylan DeShazer 1-9 0-2 2. Totals: 16-55 7-12 43. 3-point field goals: 4, (Guetterman 2, Waldron 2)

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