Wildcats bounce back to beat Bishop Ward at Baldwin Invite

By Andy Brown
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Updated: January 18, 2019

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg senior Brayden Gage gets to the basket for two points Thursday during the consolation semifinal game of the Baldwin Invitational against Bishop Ward. The Wildcats won 58-40.

BALDWIN CITY – Coming off a difficult loss to begin the Baldwin Invitational, the Louisburg boys basketball team needed to make amends quickly.

The Wildcats were on a three-game losing skid going into Thursday’s consolation semifinal against Bishop Ward and they wanted get things back on track in this tournament before heading back into Frontier League play.

Louisburg got the win it was looking for as the Wildcats downed Bishop Ward, 58-40, behind a big second half in which they outscored the Cyclones 37-23.

“We were just more patient on offense and we were getting better shots,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “I thought we worked the offense a lot better than we did in our first game here. The first half wasn’t pretty because shots just weren’t falling, but we were taking good shots. The second half our defense really sparked our offense and I thought we were a lot better defensively and it got us going.”

It was a balanced effort from the Wildcats as two players scored in double figures and eight different players found the scoring column.

Senior Noah Hill had a big night with a team-high 12 points before having to leave the game in the second half due to an injury. Senior guard Brayden Gage also picked it up as he finished with 11.

**Louisburg senior Noah Hill gets on the floor for a loose ball Thursday against Bishop Ward.**

Sophomore guard Weston Guetterman added eight points in the win, while senior Kohl Vogel finished with seven. Junior Michael Waldron added a pair of 3-pointers to the cause and freshman Julian Margrave came off the bench to score his first varsity points as he finished with six.

“It was good to see a bunch a different guys contribute and not just rely on one or two guys,” Pfannenstiel said. “I thought we moved the ball around well, especially in the second half, and more guys were able to contribute for us. We were able to play a few extra guys as well, which I think will allow us to play even harder moving forward.”

The Wildcats (5-5) found themselves in close battle with the Cyclones in the first half as they led just 21-17 at halftime. Louisburg was able to overcome some turnovers problems in the second half as it got key baskets down the stretch to pull away.

Louisburg will try and finish the Baldwin tournament with a two straight wins tonight when it faces off with Wellsville at 7 p.m., in the fifth-place game.

“We want to get a on a roll here and it was nice to be able to break that three-game losing streak we were on,” Pfannenstiel said. “Hopefully we can get some momentum going heading back into league play. Wellsville is a very disciplined team and a very patient team. They play incredibly hard and they play smart, so we are going to have to play a very good game if we want to be able to win.”

LOU 11 10 19 18 – 58

BW 10 7 13 10 – 40

LOUISBURG (5-5): Noah Hill 5 2-3 12; Brayden Gage 5 0-0 11; Weston Guetterman 4 0-2 8; Kohl Vogel 3 1-2 7; Michael Waldron 2 0-0 6; Julian Margrave 2 1-1 6; Dylan DeShazer 1 3-4 5; Madden Rutherford 1 1-2 3. Totals: 23 8-14 58. 3-point field goals: 4, (Waldron 2, Gage, Margrave)

WILDCATS COME UP SHORT AGAINST HARMON

Louisburg couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Baldwin Invitational on Tuesday as it opened with Harmon.

The Wildcats went on a run to start the first quarter and jumped out to a double-digit lead. Unfortunately, Louisburg wasn’t able to keep its momentum as it fell to Harmon, 51-45.

Louisburg jumped out to a 16-2 lead in the first quarter, but took a step back in the second quarter to allow Harmon to get back into the game. Despite a back-and-forth third quarter, Harmon used a 15-8 run in the fourth to seal the win.

“It was a tough loss,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “I thought we played pretty well for three quarters, but got a little bit out of sorts offensively in the fourth quarter. We just turned the ball over way too many times and that has been our Achilles heel.”

Senior Kohl Vogel tried to keep the Wildcats in the game as he finished with a team-high 22 points and had six rebounds. Senior Dylan DeShazer just missed double figures with nine points, but also had a team-high seven rebounds.

LOU 16 6 15 8 – 45

HAR 2 18 16 15 – 51

LOUISBURG: Kohl Vogel 10-18 0-1 22; Dylan DeShazer 3-12 2-2 9; Brayden Gage 1-5 3-4 6; Weston Guetterman 1-5 2-2 4; Madden Rutherford 2-4 0-1 4. Totals: 17-48 7-12 45. 3-point field goals: 4, (Vogel 2, Gage, DeShazer)