Defense sparks Wildcats in win over Anderson County

Louisburg senior Dawson Barnes picks off an Anderson County pass Friday in Garnett. That steal was one of 20 turnovers the Wildcats forced on the night.

GARNETT – The Louisburg boys basketball team wasn’t always clicking on all cylinders Friday against Anderson County, but when they were, the Wildcats made things difficult on the Bulldogs.

Louisburg used a pair of big runs – one in each half – to pull away from Anderson County, 63-48, at Anderson County High School and earned their second straight win in the process.

Defensively, it was one of the Wildcats’ better contests of the early season and was able to spur their offense. Louisburg forced 20 turnovers and scored 29 points off those Anderson County mistakes to help get their first road win of the year.

“Our emphasis from the start of the season has been to play aggressive and play relentless defensively and I thought we were really good in that area,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We weren’t the best offensively, especially in the half court, but part of it was because a lot of our offense was because of our defense. We were scoring points, but would like to see us a little sharper in the half-court and more patient, but I really thought our defense was great.”

The Wildcats (2-1) took a convincing 37-19 lead at halftime after they outscored Anderson County by 13 in the second quarter. The Bulldogs cut the Louisburg led to 10 midway through the third quarter, but the Wildcats ended the frame on a 15-2 run.

All of those points in the run were from behind the 3-point line as five different players knocked down the perimeter shots. Michael Seuferling, Julian Margrave, Konnor Vohs, Weston Guetterman and Maverick Rockers helped extend the Louisburg lead to 56-31 going into the fourth quarter and the Wildcats never looked back

“We needed it that is for sure,” Pfannenstiel said. “We talked about at halftime that we needed to put this away in the third quarter and we came out about as flat as you can be. I am not sure why, but we answered and responded and that is important. 

“A lot of those were good unselfish plays like drive and kicks and rhythm shots. That is where we were lacking in the first half is we were trying to do too much individually and not enough team-oriented basketball. That run was sparked buy playing team basketball.”

Louisburg had four different players score in double figures and Guetterman led the way with a team-high 15 points. Margrave finished with 13 points to go along with six rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Ben Guetterman added 11 points in the victory and had a team-high three steals. Vohs finished with 10 points.

“That is how it should be,” Pfannenstiel said of the team’s balanced scoring. “If one guys is off, or a couple guys are off, then other guys should be able to step up and they did that. We were very balanced and that was definitely good for us.”

Louisburg will try to make it three in a row tonight and will try for its first league win of year when it hosts Baldwin for a 6 p.m. tipoff. The Wildcats also had to take Piper off its schedule for Thursday due to COVID-19, so instead they will travel to Shawnee Mission East for a 6:30 p.m. start.

“Baldwin had just played Anderson County and played them tough, so it will be a challenge,” Pfannenstiel said. “They are always a hard-nosed team, and then we were able to find Shawnee Mission East to replace Piper and these are two good matchups for us. We tell the boys all the time that we are fortunate that we are getting the opportunity to play and we are going to show that on the court with how hard we play. Hopefully we can have some fun in the process.”

LOU 14 23 17 9 – 63 

AC 9 10 12 17 – 48

LOUISBURG (2-1): Weston Guetterman 6-7 2-2 15; Julian Margrave 5-13 2-3 13; Ben Guetterman 3-6 5-6 11; Konnor Vohs 4-5 0-0 10; Michael Seuferling 2-5 0-0 6; Maverick Rockers 1-1 0-0 3; Dawson Barnes 1-3 1-2 3; Andy Hupp 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 23-47 10-13 63. 3-point field goals: 7, (Seuferling 2, Vohs 2, W. Guetterman, Rockers, Margrave).

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