Louisburg boys use late fourth quarter run to down Wamego
It was the kind of grind it out game Louisburg head coach Ben Doll knew he was going to need from his team Friday against Wamego.
Already down starting center Gavin Lohse, the Wildcats were short-handed and found themselves even a little more banged up as starting forward Luke Schultz suffered an ankle injury during the game.
Throw in the fact the Wildcats struggled from the floor, they needed a big effort from its defense. Louisburg got it as it forced 18 turnovers and held Wamego to 32 percent shooting in its 40-32 victory.
“It was a huge win because our schedule is so, so tough right now,” Doll said. “Then being down Gavin and having Luke tweak his ankle and him being limited, but he’s a warrior. We had some other foul trouble and things like that, so there’s nothing easy right now. We thought that was a game that was definitely winnable for us, but you know, we didn’t expect to have all the injuries and other things happen throughout the course of the game.”
Louisburg ended the game strong as it went on a 13-4 run in the final four minutes to pull away from Wamego.
It all started as the Wildcats were down 28-27. With 4 minutes left, junior Derek Frederick hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats the lead.
After Wamego tied the game, Frederick recorded a steal and scored on a breakaway to put the Wildcats up 32-30. Then the Wildcats got production from their bench as freshman Herschel Strumberger was fouled and converted a 3-point play.
Strumberger played crucial minutes throughout the contest with Lohse out with an injury and Schultz limited at times.
“A lot of stuff happened there really late and real quick and there were just some huge plays,” Doll said. “Derek being a new starter and Herschel again getting in there and both made big plays. Being a freshman, I think Herschel kind of not knowing to be scared or anything else, so he just does what’s natural.
“Wamego is a good team. They’re a scrappy team. Then, you know, we were thinking it’s gonna be a kind of a low scoring battle going in and that’s just kind of the way everything went. Both teams just hunkered down defensively. Then their last game went into overtime and they lost in a 33-31 game, so we expected it was gonna be a grind it out type game. But you’d rather learn lessons, and all those kind of things, and get toughness in wins than in losses, so that that’s why this one feels really good.”
Schultz pushed the Wildcat lead to five on a runner in the lane, and then senior Myles Vohs recorded a steal and scored to ice the game with 20 seconds left.
Vohs provided a spark on both ends of the floor. He led Louisburg in scoring with 13 points and had a team-high five rebounds and three assists.
Schultz also scored in double figures with 10 points and had four rebounds. Strumberger finished with five points and four rebounds as the Wildcat freshman gave Louisburg some key minutes down the stretch.
“Herschel stepped up and he got to play some minutes, some big minutes and we needed a big body in there,” Doll said. “But the problem is he doesn’t know everything we’re trying to do in sets and stuff like that. So we were kind of like with an abbreviated playbook, just trying to get through that, but he did a great job. I mean, as a freshman coming in and getting rebounds, it’s kind of like he doesn’t know to be scared or anything else, which is cool. So he did a really good job, cause they had a good big kid that we needed somebody to match up on with Gavin out.”
Frederick finished with five points, while junior Owen Marsh had four points to go along with a team-high three steals.
Louisburg’s schedule gets tougher Tuesday as it hosts No. 2 ranked Baldwin in a Frontier League matchup. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
LOU 11 11 5 13 — 40
WAM 12 8 8 4 — 32
LOUISBURG (2-1): Myles Vohs 4-14 5-11 13; Luke Schultz 3-8 4-8 10; Herschel Strumberger 2-3 1-1 5; Derek Frederick 2-8 0-1 5; Owen Marsh 2-4 0-0 4; Lance Callahan 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 14-47 10-21 40. 3-point field goals: 2, (Frederick, Callahan)