Wildcats rally to take down Spring Hill in overtime

Louisburg senior Nathan Parker came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points, including a game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime Thursday at Spring Hill.

SPRING HILL — After the first quarter was complete Thursday at Spring Hill, things were looking bleak for Louisburg.

The Broncos jumped out to a 14-point lead early and nothing seemed to be going right on the Louisburg sideline.

That all changed the rest of the way.

Louisburg’s defense stiffened and Nathan Parker hit a game-tying 3-pointer with just seconds left to force overtime. The Wildcats took care of business in the extra period and left Spring Hill with a 60-57 victory.

“I am super proud of them,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “We talked about how we can’t overlook people and have to do a good job starting the game. It is was an issue to start the game, but the fact that we just kept battling back is awesome. We had some guys off the bench and really gave us a big boost in Nate (Parker), Luke (Hill) and Jaymes (Melton)). All our bench really helped us.”

Parker certainly gave the Wildcats a boost at the biggest moment. With 20 seconds left, Parker came off a screen and knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer that would force overtime.

The Louisburg senior came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points and he also led the Wildcats with four assists and three steals.

“Nate’s shot was definitely huge,” Doll said. “He is a good shooter and we were trying to run something to get him that look and he drained it. He is a very confident shooter. It was awesome.”

In the overtime, Spring Hill opened the extra period by knocking down a 3-pointer and took the lead. Parker would go on to hit a pair of free throws and then hit a shot to give Louisburg a one point advantage.

Junior Conlee Hovey added another basket to push the Wildcat lead to three. Spring Hill cut it to 1 on a couple different occasions, but senior Luke Hill hit a pair of free throws late to seal the win.

Hill came off the bench to score 11 points, while Hovey finished with nine points and nine rebounds. Hickey added seven points and four assists and five rebounds, while Brock Vohs added six boards as well.

It wasn’t always great for the Wildcats as they found themselves down 17-3 to start the game, but eventually whittled away to force overtime. After giving up 22 points in the first quarter, Louisburg held Spring Hill to just 35 points the rest of the game.

“We did a really good job on defense on getting to their shooters after the first quarter,” Doll said. “Luke did a really good job on one of them and we did a lot better job of locking up their guys late in the game.

“We were just horrendous with the ball to start the game. I think the first four possessions of the game were all turnovers. We did a better job of that, especially in the fourth quarter and overtime.  It was one of our keys coming in, and we didn’t do that early. You can’t start like that against any varsity high school team or you are going to have a heck of a time.”

Louisburg is back in action tonight as the Wildcats host the Louisburg Invitational. The Wildcats will face off with Northeast Kansas of Topeka tonight at 5:30 p.m. 

LOU 9 12 12 17 10 — 60

SH 22 8 6 14 7 — 57

LOUISBURG: Nathan Parker 6-15 5-7 19; Luke Hill 3-8 2-2 11; Conlee Hovey 3-5 3-4 9; Brady Hickey 2-10 2-4 7; Myles Vohs 1-3 2-2 4; Jaymes Melton 1-1 1-1 3; Brock Vohs 1-3 1-2 3; Bristol Barbour 1-1 0-0 2; Gavin Lohse 1-5 0-2 2. Totals: 19-51 16-24 60. 3-point field goals: 6, (Hill 3, Parker 2, Hickey) 

Wildcats lose to state-ranked Baldwin

Louisburg knew it wasn’t going to be easy as it hosted No. 9-ranked Baldwin on Friday.

For the second time this season, the Bulldogs handed the Wildcats a loss as Baldwin jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 62-46 victory over Louisburg.

Baldwin opened the game on a 30-6 run and the Wildcats weren’t able to recover.

Nathan Parker and Luke Hill led Louisburg in scoring with nine points each, while junior Gavin Lohse had a team-high six rebounds. Bristol Barbour and Jaymes Melton each tallied five rebounds.

Baldwin’s Cooper Carr nearly put together a triple double as he tallied a game-high 27 points to go along with 13 rebounds and eight assists.

LOU 4 12 10 20 — 46

BAL 16 17 16 13 — 62

LOUISBURG (4-4): Nathan Parker 2-14 4-4 9; Luke Hill 3-12 2-2 9; Conlee Hovey 3-6 1-2 7; Brady Hickey 2-6 0-0 4; Luke Schultz 2-2 0-0 4; Brock Vohs 1-6 1-2 3; Bristol Barbour 1-4 0-0 2; Myles Vohs 1-7 0-0 2; Gavin Lohse 1-5 0-0 2; Jaymes Melton 1-4 0-0 2; Derek Frederick 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 18-68 8-10 46. 3-point field goals: 2, (Parker, Hill)

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