Wildcats’ rally falls short in home loss to Eudora

Louisburg had one of its better shooting nights of the season last Tuesday at home against Eudora.

The Wildcats shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, hit six 3-ponters and outrebounded the Cardinals on both ends of the floor. Louisburg had a lot of things in its favor.

Turnovers, on the other hand, was the one aspect that haunted the Wildcats as they committed 17 mistakes, which led to 28 Eudora points in what was a 52-49 loss to the Cardinals.

“We’ve had bad turnovers at the wrong time all season and we have just struggled to finish games and take care of the ball,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “Throughout the game we didn’t do a good enough job on their best player and they got to the foul line. There were other times where we were too focused on him and another player was able to slip in for an easy basket. We are right there in almost every game against good teams, but the timing of these turnovers are just killing us.”

Along with the turnovers, the Wildcats had a tough time slowing Eudora’s Logan Sullivan. The Cardinal senior finished with a game-high 27 points, including going 9-for-10 from the free-throw line.

Eudora controlled the game for much of the first three quarters, but the Wildcats started to chip away at the Cardinal lead. With a minute remaining in the third, the Wildcats trailed 44-38 but Luke Schultz hit a basket inside to make it a four-point game.

Then to start the fourth, senior Brady Hickey drove to the basket for two more. After a Eudora basket, Louisburg senior Myles Vohs made it a two-point game again on a lay-up.

The Wildcats took the lead on a 3-pointer by senior Luke Hill and were up 47-46 with 4:45 left in the game. It stayed that way until the 1:50 mark, when Eudora scored on a back door play to grab the lead back.

Louisburg committed two turnovers on back-to-back possessions late and the Cardinals took care of business from the free-throw line to secure the win.

“We have had enough of these games where we get down and we almost always come back,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “The heart is there and we do enough to get ourselves ready to win a game. We always battle back and that is just who we are right now and it is good to always see them fight.”

Senior Nathan Parker led the Wildcats in scoring with 12 points and was the lone player in double figures. Junior Conlee Hovey had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Hickey also finished with nine.

Hill added eight in the loss to go along with the go-ahead 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

“Luke did a good job, and hit a big shot there,” Doll said. “I think Nate, Luke and Brady all hit threes for us. We had some guys knock down some big shots for us. 

“I think teams are really focused on Conlee right now and I think that will open some shooters up on the perimeter and we took advantage of some of that. Conlee has earned himself enough respect that he is drawing a lot of attention and it was good to see our shooters knock some shots down.”

Louisburg has two games remaining in the regular season and the Wildcats will travel to Paola on Tuesday before returning home Thursday against Harrisonville on Senior Night.

LOU 10 14 16 9 — 49

EUD 15 12 17 8 — 52

LOUISBURG (7-11): Nathan Parker 3-6 3-3 12; Conlee Hovey 4-5 1-2 9; Brady Hickey 4-10 0-0 9; Luke Hill 3-7 0-0 8; Luke Schultz 2-3 2-2 6; Myles Vohs 1-3 0-0 2; Jaymes Melton 1-1 0-0 2; Gavin Lohse 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 18-37 7-9 49. 3-point field goals: 6, (Parker 3, Hill 2, Hickey)