Wildcats come up short in home loss to Spring Hill

Junior Julian Margrave goes up for two of his 21 points Friday during Louisburg’s home contest against Spring Hill.

For three quarters, the Louisburg boys basketball team stayed right with Spring Hill and the Wildcats even built a six-point halftime advantage.

However, one quarter had the Wildcats playing catch up.

Louisburg scored just seven points in the third quarter, while Spring Hill took advantage of the Wildcat mistakes and eventually handed the Wildcats a 58-53 loss – their third in a row.

“In the first half we were very competitive,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We built a good lead in the second quarter, but we weren’t able to maintain it. We’ve got to find ways to be more consistent offensively.

“Obviously, the third quarter was not good for us. We struggled to get the ball to go in the hoop. That’s a pretty important part of the game. If shots aren’t falling, it puts a lot of pressure on your defense.”

Although the Wildcats shot 44 percent for the game, they struggled to get into a rhythm offensively and Spring Hill was able to take advantage of Wildcat mistakes. Louisburg turned the ball over 18 times and the Broncos scored 17 points off those mistakes.

Spring Hill was also able to make a living at the free-throw line as the Broncos converted 18 of their 25 chances, while the Wildcats went to the line just five times.

“We turned it over too much,” Pfannenstiel said. “It’s going to be hard to win games against good teams when you turn it over 18 times. I’d say the biggest difference was our inability to get to the free throw line. We’ve got to attack the rim a little more. We are settling for too many jump shots.”

A pair of juniors led the Wildcats in scoring. Julian Margrave led the Wildcats with 21 points and had nine rebounds, while Michael Seuferling finished with 12 points.

Senior point guard Weston Guetterman also had a solid line with eight points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

It was a close game into the fourth quarter as Margrave scored five straight points to cut the Spring Hill lead to two, but the Broncos eventually extended their advantage to nine points midway through the final period.

Louisburg cut the lead to two again on a 3-pointer from Margrave, along with an offensive rebound and putback from Seuferling.

Guetterman hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 53-all with 1 minute and 20 seconds left, but the Broncos were able to convert from the free-throw line and the Wildcats couldn’t get many good looks.

Louisburg has an important week of games coming up as they travel to Paola on Tuesday and then host Ottawa on Friday for homecoming. 

Then next week Louisburg will also face off with Fort Scott. All three of those teams will be in the Wildcats’ sub-state later this month.

“This is a huge week for us,” Pfannenstiel said. “Our next three games are against teams in our sub-state. Our kids will be ready to get back on the court and get the bad taste out of our mouths.”

LOU 17 13 7 16 – 53

SH 17 7 17 17 – 58

LOUISBURG (8-5): Julian Margrave 9-20 1-2 21; Michael Seuferling 6-7 0-0 12; Weston Guetterman 3-8 1-1 8; Andy Hupp 1-1 2-2 4; Konnor Vohs 1-3 0-0 3; Maverick Rockers 1-3 0-0 3; Ben Guetterman 1-6 0-0 2. Totals: 22-50 4-5 53. 3-point field goals: 5, (Margrave 2, W. Guetterman, Vohs, Rockers)