Big fourth quarter propels Wildcats in road win over Turner

Louisburg senior Garrett Rolofson goes up for a basket during the Wildcats’ 64-52 win Tuesday over Turner. Rolofson finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Louisburg opened Tuesday’s road contest against Turner with 10 straight points, only to see the Golden Bears respond with a big run of their own and put the Wildcats in hole.

The Wildcats ended the game just like they started – only bigger.

Louisburg dominated the fourth quarter and rallied from an eight-point deficit to get a 64-52 victory over Turner and win in convincing fashion. The Wildcats outscored the Golden Bears 21-5 in the final frame thanks to a different level of intensity.

“It was a great win for our guys,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We got into a funk there for a while after we had such a hot start. With it being the first game after break, you just never know what you are going to get on our end. It has been awhile since we have played, but for us to battle back was great to see and the energy in the fourth quarter was really, really good.”

A lot of that energy came from junior Ben Guetterman and senior Garrett Rolofson, who both helped the Wildcats dominate the glass in the fourth quarter, which led to a lot of second chance points.

Guetterman, one of the team’s starting guards, finished with a game-high 21 points and also added 16 rebounds to help spark the Wildcats. Rolofson nearly had a double-double himself as he added 14 points and nine boards. Both players had seven offensive rebounds on the night and kept a lot of plays alive.

“Ben played really well and Rolo played really tough inside,” Pfannenstiel said. “If those guys can continue that, and then we can piece it together with the other guys, then we should be alright.

“Ben is going to realize that he can really score when he hits the offensive glass and he doesn’t just have to hit from the outside. He has the ability to attack on the offensive rebounds and get a lot of garbage points. Rolo did a really good job with that too. Our energy was really good in the fourth quarter, and if we can do that for four quarters, then we can do this any night out.”

Louisburg (2-3) was without one of its leading scorers in Julian Margrave, who was out with an illness. Other players had to fill in and the Wildcats were able to get good production from their bench.

Sophomore Michael Seuferling saw his first varsity action of the season and provided the Wildcats with some key minutes as he finished with seven points. Junior Konnor Vohs also added six in the win, including a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to help jump start the Wildcats’ run.

Point guard Weston Guetterman added six points, but also finished with a team-high seven assists and also had six rebounds.

“We had a couple guys come off the bench and really gave us some good minutes there in crunch time,” Pfannenstiel said. “I thought Michael came in and played really well. We had to have some guys step up with Julian out, so we needed to have some guys score for us. Vohs, Seuferling and those guys came in and brought good energy and that is what we needed.”

The Wildcats opened the game on a 10-0 run, but Turner responded quickly as it went on a 17-2 spurt of its own to take a five-point lead going into the second quarter.

Turner extended its lead to 10 points midway through the second quarter and later had an eight-point lead in the third, before the Wildcats started to chip away.

Seuferling hit a jumper to cut the Turner lead to one early in the fourth quarter and then the Wildcat defense forced three straight turnovers. Louisburg took advantage as Ben Guetterman and Rolofson both scored on offensive rebounds to give the Wildcats the lead and then Vohs answered with a 3-pointer to put Louisburg up six.

Louisburg didn’t let up as it pulled away from the Bears the rest of the way and recorded its second win on the season.

“We switched to zone for a little bit and I think that messed with them for a while,” Pfannenstiel said. “They missed some shots and we were able to rebound out of it. I think we figured out pretty quick that we need to get going. We played with some great energy in the fourth.”

The Wildcats will try for back-to-back wins Friday when they travel to Eudora in Frontier League action. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

“Eudora is always very well coached,” Pfannenstiel said. “They are a great program and have disciplined players. It is good to go into league play with a win and we have a lot of games coming up here. It will be a grind and we have a lot to do. Hopefully we can continue to build some momentum.”

LOU               12           16           15           21 – 64

TUR               16           15           16           5 – 52

LOUISBURG (2-3): Ben Guetterman 9-17 1-1 21; Garrett Rolofson 5-12 4-6 14; Michael Seuferling 2-5 1-1 7; Weston Guetterman 1-11 4-6 6; Konnor Vohs 2-3 1-2 6; Michael Waldron 2-4 0-0 5; Charlie Peters 0-1 3-4 3; Maverick Rockers 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 22-57 15-23 64. 3-point field goals: 5, (B. Guetterman 2, Seuferling, Vohs, Waldron)

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