Wildcats can’t overtake Eudora on the road

Louisburg senior Brock Vohs battles for a rebound Thursday during the Wildcats’ contest at Eudora.

EUDORA — In its first game back from the holidays, the Louisburg boys basketball team found itself in position to get a big road win. 

The Wildcats were down by just a couple possessions to Eudora late in Thursday’s contest. Unfortunately, Louisburg couldn’t get the late stops it needed in a 53-46 loss to the Cardinals.

“It is disappointing because I think it was an opportunity lost,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “We played well enough in a lot of ways to win. One of our emphasis going in was to win 50-50 balls, and there were 2 or 3 possessions where they had a miss, got an offensive rebound and scored. In a close game like this one, you have to get 50-50 balls.”

For the first time since their season opener, the Wildcats almost had their full complement of players and they got contributions from up and down their line up.

It all started inside for the Wildcats as juniors Conlee Hovey and Gavin Lohse provided a presence underneath the basket. 

Hovey finished with team-high nine points and led the Wildcats with seven rebounds. Lohse added eight points and four rebounds.

Senior Brock Vohs tallied seven points and four rebounds, while senior forward Jaymes Melton added four each.

“Over the entire break, we made an emphasis with our big guys of finishing and going off two feet,” Doll said. “We have guys that can rebound, ones that we can get the ball inside to and we definitely have an advantage down there. We just aren’t doing a great job of finishing there yet, but we did better.”

The Wildcats (3-3) made several runs on the Cardinals, but Eudora always seemed to have an answer — especially Logan Sullivan. The Eudora senior scored a game-high 23 points and made things difficult on Louisburg.

“He is really tough,” Doll said. “There are times we did a bad job on him and he made shots, but we could have done better. But there were at least 2 or 3 shots where there was great defense and he shot over fingertips and knocked it down. In basketball, that is just the way it goes sometimes. You can’t get mad about those things because he is a really good player in this league.”

Louisburg senior Brady Hickey helped keep the Wildcats in it as he knocked down three 3-pointers and tied Hovey for a a team-best nine points. Junior Myles Vohs had a team-high three assists and four rebounds.

Eudora took a 27-19 lead at halftime, but the Wildcats got out to a fast start in the third quarter with an 8-2 run and cut the Cardinal lead to two.

Lohse started the run with a driving basket and Hovey followed with another basket on an assist from Brock Vohs. Lohse added two free throws and Brock Vohs had a put back to cut the Eudora lead to 29-27.

The Cardinals expanded the lead back to eight to start the fourth quarter and the Wildcats could never get over the hump.

Louisburg will try and get back on the winning track Tuesday when it travels to Spring Hill. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

LOU 12 7 12 15 — 46

EUD 16 11 14 12 — 53

LOUISBURG (3-3): Conlee Hovey 3-5 3-4 9; Brady Hickey 3-9 0-0 9; Gavin Lohse 2-4 4-4 8; Brock Vohs 2-10 3-6 7; Nathan Parker 1-2 2-2 5; Jaymes Melton 2-3 0-1 4; Bristol Barbour 0-1 2-2 2; Myles Vohs 0-4 2-2 2. Totals: 13-40 16-21 46. 3-point field goals: 4, (Hickey 3, Parker)