Wildcats hold Paola scoreless in second half to cruise to league win

Louisburg seniors (from left) Brock Vohs and Brady Hickey team up to double team a Paola player Tuesday in Louisburg.

Ben Doll has coached basketball for more than two decades, but what he, and the rest of the Louisburg team, experienced Tuesday was something of a first.

The Wildcats hosted rival Paola and put together a defensive performance to remember. Louisburg jumped out to a big lead at halftime and cruised to a 47-16 victory over the Panthers.

Louisburg never let the Panthers get going as they held them scoreless in the second half and the Wildcats picked up their second straight win.

“It was interesting and wasn’t something we really realized until we got into the fourth quarter,” Doll said. “I’ve spent 25 years coaching high school basketball, and I don’t think I have ever seen something like that on the varsity level for an entire half.”

The Wildcats (5-7) controlled the game from start to finish as they took a 17-7 after one quarter and led 33-16 at halftime. 

It was the type of effort Doll was looking for as the Wildcats put together a complete game performance.

“They played really good,” he said. “The second half we were just trying to keep up with what we did in the first half. I thought they played great in the first half and scored 33 points, which is good for us. We just spent most of the second half trying to work clock and work on our offense. We could have scored more, but that wasn’t the goal and it was to work on other stuff and play good defense. Our defense was great in the first half too.”

Louisburg had a balanced scoring performance from up and down its lineup.

Senior Brady Hickey led the Wildcats in scoring with nine points and three assists. Junior Myles Vohs and senior Nathan Parker each finished with eight points and Vohs had a team-high four assists.

Senior Brock Vohs, along with juniors Gavin Lohse and Luke Schultz, each finished with six points. Schultz and senior Jaymes Melton each tallied five rebounds to lead Louisburg.

After an upset win against Bonner Springs last Friday, Doll sees confidence building in his group as they hit the final stretch of games this month.

“There is confidence for sure,” Doll said. “The win against Bonner was as big one for us and we were able to keep that going against Paola. The key in basketball is to play your best at the end of the season and that is what we are trying to do.”

Louisburg will try to keep its winning streak going this Friday when it travels to Ottawa. The Wildcats then turn around and play Saturday against Lee’s Summit at Lee’s Summit West High School in the 810 Varsity Showcase.

“Ottawa is really good,” Doll said. “It will be a great test for us. They really like to run and it is going to be similar to what we saw against Bonner, so we are going to have to do a good job of getting back on defense.”

LOU 17 16 12 2 — 47

PAO 7 9 0 0 — 16

LOUISBURG (5-7): Brady Hickey 3-5 0-0 9; Nathan Parker 2-7 3-3 8; Myles Vohs 3-5 0-0 8; Gavin Lohse 3-5 0-0 6; Luke Schultz 2-6 2-2 6; Brock Vohs 3-6 0-0 6; Conlee Hovey 1-2 0-0 2; Jaymes Melton 1-1 0-1 2. Totals: 18-42 5-6 47. 3-point field goals: 6, (Hickey 3, M. Vohs 2, Parker)