Wildcats defeat Bishop Ward in tournament opener

Junior Konnor Vohs puts up a shot during Louisburg’s tournament opener against Bishop Ward on Tuesday in Baldwin City.

BALDWIN CITY – The Louisburg boys basketball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Baldwin Invitational on Tuesday and the Wildcats put themselves in position to make a run at the tournament title.

Louisburg, the No. 4 seed, opened play against No. 5 Bishop Ward at Baldwin High School and the Wildcats left no doubt in this one. Louisburg held Bishop Ward to nine first half points and cruised to a 63-25 win over the Cyclones.

The win pushes the Wildcats’ record to 4-4 on the season as they advance to the tournament semifinals.

“Our focus was to play a complete game,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We’ve played well in stretches, but we’ve yet to be consistent for four quarters. I thought this was our first game we were good on both sides of the ball for four quarters. Hopefully we can build on that.”

The Wildcats started on the defensive end as they held Bishop Ward without point until 15 seconds left in the first quarter. They kept it going throughout the contest and the offense followed suit.

Louisburg took a 16-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and then went on an 18-6 run in the second to go up 34-9 at halftime. The Wildcats added 23 more points in the third quarter and all but sealed the win.

Sophomore Julian Margrave proved to be a mismatch for Ward, especially inside, as he scored a game-high 17 points – 15 of which came in the first half – and was 8-for-11 from the field. He also added a team-high eight rebounds.

“Julian had a nice game,” Pfannenstiel said. “He was aggressive offensively and made some big plays. He can really get hot offensively, so hopefully he can keep playing well.”

Everyone got involved in the scoring as Pfannenstiel emptied his bench in the fourth quarter and all 12 players scored for the Wildcats.

Senior Michael Waldron was next with nine points, while senior Garrett Rolofson had seven points, four steals and three blocks. Junior point guard Weston Guetterman had a team-high seven deflections to go along with five steals and four assists.

“It was good to get everyone a good stretch of minutes of varsity action,” Pfannenstiel said. “Our kids practice hard and compete for minutes every day in practice, so it was good to see them all get an opportunity to play.”

The competition will get a lot harder Friday when the Wildcats square off with the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Harmon. Harmon is currently ranked No. 3 in Class 6A and beat Wellsville, 65-29. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m.

“Harmon is really athletic and they are a deep team that returns almost everybody from last year,” Pfannenstiel said. “They are the only remaining undefeated 6A team on the east side of the state so we are going to have to be locked in and ready from start to finish. Our kids are excited for the opportunity.”

LOU               16           18           23           6 – 63

BW                3             6             10           6 – 25

LOUISBURG (4-4): Julian Margrave 8-11 1-1 17; Michael Waldron 4-6 0-0 9; Garrett Rolofson 2-5 3-3 7; Ben Guetterman 2-4 1-2 6; Michael Seuferling 2-5 0-0 4; Konnor Vohs 2-4 0-0 4; Maverick Rockers 2-4 0-0 4; Charlie Peters 1-3 2-2 4; Dawson Barnes 1-2 0-0 3; Weston Guetterman 1-3 0-0 2; Connor Koesser 1-3 0-0 2; Andy Hupp 0-2 1-3 1. Totals: 26-52 8-11 63. 3-point field goals: 3, (B. Guetterman, Waldron, Barnes)

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