Vohs hits game-winner to give Louisburg win over Tonganoxie in opener

Louisburg junior Myles Vohs drives in for a basket Friday during the Wildcats’ season opener against Tonganoxie.

The Louisburg boys basketball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to its season. 

Louisburg jumped out to a fast start, took a big halftime lead and everything was primed for a big celebration after the game was over. The Wildcats still got to celebrate, but getting the win Friday over Tonganoxie wasn’t easy.

The Chieftains rallied from a double digit deficit to tie the game in the second half, but Louisburg junior Myles Vohs hit a runner with under 15 seconds left to give the Wildcats a 53-51 victory.

“I am really proud of them,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “There is definitely stuff we can learn from. However, we would definitely rather learn from a win than a loss, so we will take it.”

Not only did the Wildcats open with a victory, Doll, who is in his first season as Louisburg’s head coach, earned his first varsity win after spending 20-plus years as an assistant coach at Blue Valley North and Lansing.

Throw in a dramatic game-winner and the Wildcats had plenty to celebrate in their season season opener.

“It is awesome,” Doll said. “I have been an assistant coach for a long time and have had a lot of big wins, so this one feels like a lot of those. It never seemed like the situation was overwhelming, but at the same time I had my family there and everyone was telling me congratulations and that is different from other big wins that I have had. 

“It was a lot more special, especially for a game in December and not one in March. I told the guys after the game that I thank them. You only get one first win and it is with these guys, so I really appreciate how hard they played and how they stayed within the game.”

Louisburg struggled offensively in the second half and scored just four points in the fourth quarter, but those two baskets — both by Vohs — were in big moments.

With the game tied at 49-all, Vohs drove the lane for a basket to give Louisburg a 51-49 lead midway though the quarter. Then, the game was tied at 51-all, and after the Wildcats worked the ball around, Vohs found an opening in the Chieftain zone and hit a runner with 15 seconds left.

Tonganoxie tried to win the game, but the 3-point attempt at the buzzer rolled off the front of the rim and the Wildcats were able to survive.

“It was obviously huge,” Doll said of Vohs’ game-winner. “He did a good job of penetrating the zone and trying to get guys to collapse. On that possession, we did a really good job of doing that, especially Myles. It was a big shot by him and he was clutch.”

Louisburg jumped on Tonganoxie in the first half as the Wildcats scored 12 unanswered points to start the game and eventually took a 39-26 lead into halftime.

The Wildcats were scoring at a frantic pace and Tonganoxie needed to try something to slow them down. The Chieftains put in a 1-3-1 zone and the Wildcats scored just 14 second half points.

“It is really tough to adjust to that after playing like we were, and that was great coaching by them,” Doll said. “As a coach you reach a point sometimes where you have to throw a change-up and see if it works. It worked really well on us. Our goal was not to turnover the ball and that isn’t a great way to play offense. It is just something we have to work on.

“The one positive about going against that zone is I think we got better at attacking it as the game went on. We had to play against it for much of the second half and I think that enabled us to attack it better.”

Despite battling some foul trouble, senior Nathan Parker provided the Wildcats with a spark on offense as he scored a game-high 13 points, including 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. 

Senior Luke Hill also found a lot of success from the outside as he finished with 10 points, including three 3-pointers. 

The Wildcats did a lot of work on the glass as they outrebounded Tonganoxie 36-20, including 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 12 second chance points.

Senior Brock Vohs did a little bit of everything for the Wildcats as he finished with six points, six rebounds and six assists.

Junior Gavin Lohse had a team-high eight rebounds and junior Conlee Hovey had seven.

Louisburg will try for back to back wins Tuesday as the Wildcats travel to Burlington for their first game of the season. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

LOU 20 19 10 4 — 53

TON 13 13 17 8 — 51

LOUISBURG (1-0): Nathan Parker 3-10 6-7 13, Luke Hill 3-9 1-4 10; Myles Vohs 4-4 0-2 9; Brock Vohs 3-8 0-0 6; Conlee Hovey 3-5 0-2 6; Gavin Lohse 1-5 3-6 5; Brady Hickey 1-5 0-0 2; Jaymes Melton 0-1 2-2 2. Totals: 18-47 12-23 53. 3-point field goals: 5, (Hill 3, Parker, Vohs)