Wildcats overcome tough shooting to win battle with Anderson County

Louisburg’s Mason Dobbins goes up for two of his eight points Friday in the Wildcats’ 36-29 win over Anderson County.

GARNETT — It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but for the Louisburg boys basketball team, the only thing that mattered was the result.

The Wildcats gutted through a physical contest, on what was an off-shooting night, and came away with a 36-29 victory over Anderson County on Friday in Garnett.

“Sometimes you win ugly, and this was one of those games,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “It definitely wasn’t the prettiest of basketball games, but sometimes you have to grind out wins and Friday was one of those nights.”

Neither team could find the shooting touch and Anderson County did its best to slow the Wildcat offense down. The Bulldogs came out in a 3-2 zone to force the Wildcats to beat them from the outside.

Louisburg (3-0) couldn’t get a lot to fall as it shot just 27 percent from the floor and were 5-for-14 from the free-throw line.

All that turned into a single possession game late in the contest.

“They caught us off guard a little with their 3-2 zone,” Pfannenstiel said. “It took us a while to get a feel for how to attack it, but we settled in. We probably settled for too many long shots, but no matter what, we are going to have to shoot the ball better or we are going to see a lot of zone this season.”

With 1:30 left in the game, the Wildcats held just a 31-28 lead, but Anderson County got a steal a had a wide open layup on a breakaway that it missed.

Louisburg took advantage of the missed shot as Trey Myers drove baseline and fed a wide-open Mason Dobbins under the basket. Dobbins made the basket and gave Louisburg a 2-possession lead with a minute left.

The Wildcats led 34-29 with 28 seconds remaining when senior Isaiah Whitley collected a loose ball near the basket, scored and was fouled to all but ice the game.

It was a sigh of relief for the Wildcats to win a game that had several ups and downs throughout. The contest got a little heated in the second half as Louisburg was called for a technical foul and Anderson County was called for an intentional foul as both teams tried to fight their way on top.

“Boy that was a rugged game,” Pfannenstiel said. “Basketball has gotten more physical over the years, but it’s not supposed to be played like that. I was proud of how we kept our composure. We stressed that at halftime that we have no control of how the game is called, but we can’t worry about that and have to adapt to how the game is being called and played. I was proud of our guys.”

With the shots not falling, the Wildcats leaned on their defense to help them through and it did. Louisburg held Anderson County to just 24 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers.

Louisburg also out rebounded the Bulldogs 35-27, including 12 offensive rebounds.

“Our defense has definitely been our strength so far this season,” Pfannenstiel said. “We always stress that if we can be good on defense that we are always going to be in games. It’s been key for us that our defense has been consistent. We are going to need that moving forward.”

Louisburg took a 18-13 lead at halftime, before Anderson County eventually whittled it to a one-possession game on a couple different occasions in the second half.

Colyer Wingfield led the Wildcats in scoring with nine points on the night, including a team-high seven rebounds and four steals. Dobbins added eight points and four rebounds.

Junior Nathan Parker came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers and finished with six points, as did Myers.

Whitley was second on the team with five rebounds to go along with his game-sealing basket.

Louisburg will try and make it four wins in a row Tuesday when it hosts Baldwin in a Frontier League matchup. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

“A win is a win,” Pfannenstiel said. “We obviously have areas that we need to improve on, but our kids have been competitive and are looking forward to a good opponent coming in on Tuesday.  It should be another good test for us.”

LOU 5 13 8 10 — 36

AC 5 8 9 7 — 29

LOUISBURG (3-0): Colyer Wingfield 4-16 1-5 9; Mason Dobbins 2-4 4-6 8; Nathan Parker 2-10 0-2 6; Trey Myers 2-7 0-0 6; Cade Gassman 1-4 0-0 3; Conlee Hovey 1-1 0-0 2; Isaiah Whitley 1-3 0-1 2. Totals: 13-48 5-14 36. 3-point field goals: 5, (Parker 2, Myers 2, Gassman)

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