State-ranked Bonner Springs downs Louisburg

Louisburg junior Michael Waldron drives to the basket Tuesday during the Wildcats’ road contest against Bonner Springs.

BONNER SPRINGS – The Louisburg
boys basketball team knew it was going to be a difficult challenge Tuesday when
it faced off with one of the better teams in the state.

The Wildcats traveled to Bonner
Springs for a Frontier League matchup and the Braves, who are ranked No. 10 in
Class 5A, handed Louisburg a 72-46 loss.

“It was a tough matchup,”
Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They are really quick and we knew we
were going to have to play zone and keep them in front of us. We struggled to
do the little things early on and they exposed us on that and that is what good
teams do. There is a lot to be learned from the game. We will move on and keep
grinding.”

Bonner Springs used its quickness
and athleticism to pressure the Wildcats on defense and the Braves scored 19
points off Louisburg turnovers.

Louisburg (4-4) was unable to get much traction as Bonner Springs jumped out to a 22-12 lead in the first quarter and the Braves scored 26 more points in the second quarter to get out to a big lead.

Wildcat senior Dylan DeShazer led
Louisburg in scoring with 11 points and added six rebounds. Fellow senior Kohl
Vogel also finished in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds, while
junior Madden Rutherford led the Wildcats with eight rebounds.

Louisburg will try and get back on
track today when it travels to Baldwin. The Wildcats will travel to Baldwin
against next week for the Baldwin Invitational where Louisburg is the No. 6 seed
and will meet Harmon.

“We will see what kind of team we
are, whether we will feel sorry for ourselves or get in there and work to get
better,” Pfannenstiel said. “Hopefully we can play well on Friday and get a
little momentum going for a well-balanced tournament. There is eight really
good teams in that tournament, but we have to take care of business against
Baldwin and continue to get better.”

LOU               12           11           13           10 – 46

BON              22           26           17           7 – 72

LOUISBURG (4-4): Dylan DeShazer 4-6
1-2 11; Kohl Vogel 3-10 3-4 10; Brayden Gage 3-9 1-2 8; Weston Guetterman 2-5
2-5 6; Madden Rutherford 1-6 2-2 5; Noah Hill 0-1 3-4 3; Ben Guetterman 1-4 0-0
2; Michael Waldron 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 14-42 13-21 46. 3-point field goals: 5, (DeShazer
2, Vogel, Gage, Rutherford)