Louisburg boys fall to Bonner Springs, Baldwin to end 2024

BONNER SPRINGS — The Louisburg boys basketball team had a challenging week to end 2024.

The Wildcats fell to the state’s No. 1 team, Baldwin, on Dec. 17 and then had to square off with a Class 5A team in Bonner Springs last Thursday.

Although it put together a second half run, Louisburg couldn’t get past Bonner Springs in a 65-51 loss to run its record to 2-3 on the season.

Louisburg got out to a rough start, as it not only trailed by 18 at halftime, but the Wildcats also had to deal with foul trouble with their two leading scorers in Gavin Lohse and Luke Schultz.

The Wildcats were able to get back in a rhythm offensively in the third quarter as the they outscored Bonner Springs 19-10 and eventually cut the Braves’ lead to seven early in the fourth. 

Lohse led the Wildcats with a double-double as he finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, with many of those baskets coming in the second half. 

“It was another tough one to start as we struggled to contain the dribble and that got us down 18 at half,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “Gavin played great and we did a good job of getting him going in the third quarter to cut it to 7. Problem with that is, once you get down by so much and make a comeback, you end up running out of steam, which we did. They are a really solid team with good pieces at each spot.”

Schultz also had a big night for the Wildcats as he also recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds in a team-high 19 minutes. 

Lohse and Schultz combined to score 38 of the Wildcats’ 51 points. Senior Myles Vohs tallied a team-high five assists on the night.

The Wildcats will try and bounce back on Jan. 7 when they travel to Harrisonville (Mo.) in their first game back from break.

LOU 8 14 19 10 — 51

BON 16 24 10 15 — 65

LOUISBURG (2-3): Gavin Lohse 9-12 4-4 22; Luke Schultz 5-10 5-8 16; Owen Marsh 2-10 0-0 5; Myles Vohs 2-7 0-0 4; Derek Frederick 1-8 0-0 2; Ethan Kush 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 20-51 9-14 51. 3-point field goals: 2, (Schultz, Marsh).

Louisburg falls to No. 1 ranked Baldwin

Playing then No. 1 team in the state is never going to be easy, but Louisburg did its best to stay with the top-ranked team in Class 4A on Dec. 17 at home.

After a close first quarter, Baldwin pulled away from Louisburg and handed the Wildcats a 55-36 loss. One of the state’s best players, Cooper Carr, made it tough on the Wildcats as he scored a game-high 23 points.

“We had it to 11 in the third quarter and we missed some easy ones around the basket that would have cut it to nine,” Doll said. “So, I really don’t think the score is indicative of our performance. I think we did better than what the final score said and we did a good job defending Cooper a lot of the time. I mean, he just went to the free throw line, so that’s something that’s really hard to stop, and that was about all he was scoring for a while.

“I thought our effort and everything in our game plan was solid for a little while, until we just had too many turnovers. Then the other thing that hurt was early in the game when they had some guys hit threes that usually don’t hit those shots. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

The Wildcats trailed just 10-6 after the first quarter, but Baldwin pulled away in the second and eventually built a 22-point lead late in the third quarter.

Senior Gavin Lohse just missed a double-double for Louisburg as he scored nine points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Juniors Owen Marsh and Derek Frederick each scored seven points, while senior Luke Schultz pulled down six rebounds. 

LOU 6 7 10 13 — 36

BAL 10 15 14 16 — 55

LOUISBURG: Gavin Lohse 4-9 1-4 9; Owen Marsh 3-6 0-0 7; Derek Frederick 3-10 0-0 7; Lance Callahan 2-3 0-0 5; Luke Schultz 1-8 2-4 4; Herschel Strumberger 0-0 2-4 2; Ethan Kush 0-2 2-2 2. Totals: 13-46 7-14 51. 3-point field goals: 3, (Marsh, Frederick, Callahan)

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