Wildcats lose home finale to Metro Academy

Sophomore Maverick Rockers drives to the basket for two points after a steal Tuesday against Metro Academy at Louisburg High School.

It wasn’t the way the Louisburg
boys basketball team wanted to end its home season.

A victory against Metro Academy on
Tuesday would have given the Wildcats a chance at hosting a first-round playoff
game, but instead, they might have played their last home game of the season.

Metro Academy used a big fourth
quarter run to help pull away and hand Louisburg a 54-48 loss. The Wildcats are
now 8-11 on the season, and will need to beat Paola on Friday, along with some
other help to be able move up the seed line for the playoffs.

“We talked about what was on the
line going into this game,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “If we would
have won our last two games, then we could have hosted a first round game. Not
that it is completely out the window, but we are looking at a 9 or 10 seed
right now.”

Louisburg got out to a fast start
as it outscored Metro Academy 15-5 in the first quarter and the Wildcats
increased it to a 14-point advantage early in the second. It was then when the
Mavericks started to gain confidence.

Metro Academy finished the first
half on a 14-5 run to cut into the Louisburg lead and eventually took a small
lead early in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we were really good defensively
in the first quarter,” Pfannenstiel said. “Some of those things we struggled
with against Bonner Springs last week, we watched those on film and we were
better in that first quarter. I thought we were very disciplined, but that is a
talented Metro team. I think they return four guys off of last year’s team that
made it tough on us last year. They have some shooters and good posts that are
explosive. A lot of them are seniors and are big, physical kids. We just didn’t
get done and hats off to them as they made some plays.”

Louisburg junior Konnor Vohs broke
a tie early in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats the lead,
but Metro Academy went on a 10-0 run to take a seven-point lead with 2 minutes
and 30 seconds left in the game and the Wildcats weren’t able to bounce back.

The Wildcats were without starting
point guard Weston Guetterman, who was out with an illness, but sophomore
Maverick Rockers started in his place and he, along with Vohs, helped pick up
some of the scoring slack. The two players combined to score 15 points to help
keep Louisburg in it.

“I thought both of them played
really, really well,” Pfannenstiel said. “I was pleased with everything that
those guys did. They handled the ball well and took care of the ball. I think
they combined for like two turnovers and that is impressive versus some kids
that could really guard. They both were able to score some points for us and
ran the offense, so I was definitely pleased with that.”

Three-point shooting wasn’t a problem for the Wildcats as they knocked down seven on the night and shot close to 50 percent from behind the arc. It was the inside that gave Louisburg some issues.

The Wildcats shot just 31 percent
from 2-point range and they had problems finding easy baskets.

“We struggle to finish on the
inside and for some reason it is hard for us to finish when we get into the
paint,” Pfannenstiel said. “If you look at our 2-point percentage, it is not
what you would expect. We have to get better there. Some of it is we are taking
tough, contested runners where if we make that extra pass off the drive that we
could get a higher percentage shot. It is not always the guys driving the ball,
it is also the guys off the ball that have to make plays too to give us some
opportunities. We shot it well from the outside, but we have to finish on the
inside and find ways to execute offensively.”

Junior Ben Guetterman led
Louisburg in scoring with nine points and had six rebounds, while sophomore Julian
Margrave had a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Garrett Rolofson also finished
with six boards.

Louisburg will try and bounce back
to win its regular season finale when it travels to Paola. Tipoff is set for
7:30 p.m., as the Wildcats try and avenge a loss to the Panthers from earlier
this season.

“It shouldn’t take anything
special to get us motivated to play Paola,” Pfannenstiel said. “We have a sour
taste in our mouths from the last time we played them and have an opportunity
to go to their place and get a win. We have played well over there the last
couple of years, so I think it will be a good environment and is always a great
rivalry.”

LOU               15           9             15           9 – 48

MA                5             14           18           17 – 54

LOUISBURG (8-11): Ben Guetterman
3-16 2-2 9; Konnor Vohs 3-4 0-0 8; Maverick Rockers 3-5 0-0 7; Garrett Rolofson
2-5 1-2 6; Michael Waldron 2-5 1-2 6; Charlie Peters 2-4 1-2 6; Julian Margrave
3-11 0-0 6. Totals: 18-50 5-8 48. 3-point field goals: 7, (Vohs 2, Rolofson,
Rockers, Guetterman, Waldron, Peters)