Wildcats fall to Wellsville in fifth-place game

Louisburg senior Dylan DeShazer puts up a shot during the Baldwin Invitational last week at Baldwin High School.

BALDWIN CITY – For three of the
four quarters, the Louisburg boys basketball team actually bested Wellsville on
Friday during the fifth-place game of the Baldwin Invitational.

It was the third quarter, however,
that helped send the Wildcats home with a loss.

Louisburg scored just four points
in the third quarter, and despite a furious rally in the fourth, the Wildcats
couldn’t make the comeback in the 64-53 loss to the Eagles at Baldwin High
School.

“We knew Wellsville was going to be a
tough test for us,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They are a very
patient and disciplined team. They shot the ball really well coming out after
halftime and only missed three shots in the third quarter. We were really bad
offensively.”

Wellsville outscored Louisburg 21-4 in
the third period after the Wildcats trailed by just one point at halftime.
Louisburg outscored Wellsville 24-17 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t
enough.

Kohl Vogel had another big game for the
Wildcats with a team-high 14 points, while fellow senior Brayden Gage added 12
points and senior Dylan DeShazer added nine.

The Wildcats (5-6) had a tough time
containing the Wellsville dynamic duo of Jackson Dwyer and Zach Vance. The two
players each finished with 22 points and combined for 44 of the Eagles’ 64
points.

“I was proud of how we fought back in the
fourth quarter,” Pfannenstiel said. “We were able to cut their lead to seven
points in the fourth, but they hit a couple more big shots that proved too much
to overcome. If you take away the third quarter, we played pretty
well.  But obviously you have to play well for all four quarters and we
just didn’t do that I think there is a lot to be learned from this game
and hopefully we can come back and be more consistent.”

Louisburg will try and get back on track
Friday when it hosts Spring Hill. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

LOU               13           12           4             24 – 53

WEL              15           11           21           17 – 64

LOUISBURG (5-6): Kohl Vogel 5-9
3-4 14; Brayden Gage 4-8 3-6 12; Dylan DeShazer 4-5 1-2 9; Noah Hill 3-4 1-1 7;
Madden Rutherford 2-7 1-2 6; Weston Guetterman 1-5 1-1 3; Michael Waldron 1-3
0-0 2. Totals: 20-43 10-16 53. 3-point field goals: 3, (Vogel, Gage,
Rutherford)