Wildcats fall to Paola in overtime, lose to Ottawa on homecoming

PAOLA — The Louisburg boys basketball team was well on its way to stealing a game from its rival on Feb. 4 at Paola.

The Wildcats had a 3-point lead late in the contest and were hoping to get their second league win of the season. Paola had other ideas, however.

Paola forced overtime and then hit free throws down the stretch to hand Louisburg a 58-56 loss in a game where the Wildcats led for much of the second half.

“It’s a hard loss because we’re obviously struggling in a lot of ways,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “At the same time, I think we took a big step forward in a lot of ways. I thought we shot the ball well and our defense was fairly good. We are not looking for moral victories this late in the season, but it was a hard fought game that we played pretty well all the way through it. We just didn’t get the calls and situations we wanted in the end.”

The Wildcats shot 34 percent from the field, but had three players score in double figures. Louisburg led by two points at halftime and the game remained close throughout. Louisburg’s largest lead of the game was seven midway through the third quarter.

Paola put together a mini run, and even took the lead midway through the fourth, but the Wildcats responded to take it right back.

Louisburg junior Derek Frederick hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 48-all with four minutes left in regulation, then with 2:42 remaining, junior Owen Marsh hit a pull-up jumper to give Louisburg a 50-48 lead.

Senior Myles Vohs knocked in a free throw at the 1:50 mark to make it a 3-point game, however Paola’s Caden Cohee nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game again.

Paola got the ball back with under a minute left and settled for the final shot, but the Wildcat defense held strong as it forced a fade-away 3-pointer from Steven Bassett that missed and forced overtime.

The Panthers jumped out to a four point lead in overtime, but free throws from Vohs and Luke Schultz cut it to two with 19 seconds left. However, Cohee knocked in two free throws to make it a four-point lead again and the Wildcats ran out of time. 

Cohee was big for the Panthers all night as he finished with a game-high 22 points and was 10-for-17 from the free-throw line.

“In overtime Paola’s defense tightened up a little bit, but we were battling foul trouble and we didn’t have Gavin (Lohse) and he would have been a difference maker in there for us, but the guys who were out there really battled,” Doll said. “Paola got the right calls and hit the free throws when they needed to.”

Vohs had a big night for the Wildcats as he paced Louisburg with a team-high 18 points, along with a team-high four steals and four assists.

Schultz also finished in double figures with 11 points and had eight rebounds. Frederick had 10 points, while Marsh had seven points and five rebounds. 

As a team, the Wildcats shot well from behind-the-arch as they knocked in seven 3-pointers, including five combined from Vohs and Frederick.

“Myles really stepped up and hit some clutch shots for us all night,” Doll said. “Both Myles and Derek hit big shots for us a different times. Derek had been in a slump as of late, so it was good to see those shots go through the hoop and hopefully that will carry over to the rest of the season.”

LOU 14 16 11 10 5 — 56

PAO 11 17 10 13 7 — 58

LOUISBURG (3-11): Myles Vohs 6-13 3-6 18; Luke Schultz 3-9 4-6 11; Derek Frederick 3-11 2-2 10; Owen Marsh 3-7 0-0 7; Gavin Lohse 2-3 1-1 5; Ethan Kush 1-4 2-2 4; Parker Stanfield 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 18-53 13-19 56. 3-point field goals: 7, (Vohs 3, Frederick 2, Marsh, Schultz)

Wildcats fall to No. 1 Ottawa on homecoming

There was no more difficult task for the Louisburg boys to play than taking on the No. 1 team in the state Friday on homecoming.

For the first half, the Wildcats held their own and tried to slow the game down. Louisburg trailed by just 12 points at halftime, but a big third quarter from Ottawa changed the game.

The Cyclones scored 26 points right after halftime and pulled away to hand Louisburg a 66-34 loss. Ottawa outscored the Wildcats 26-11 in the third quarter to all but seal the win.

Louisburg senior Gavin Lohse led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds. Luke Schultz finished with eight points, but had to leave early in the second half with an injury.

The Wildcats will try and bounce back this Tuesday as they travel to Tonganoxie. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

LOU 8 9 11 6 — 34

OTT 15 14 26 11 — 66

LOUISBURG (3-12): Gavin Lohse 6-10 3-6 15; Luke Schultz 3-3 2-2 8; Myles Vohs 1-10 2-2 5; Lance Callahan 2-3 0-0 4; Owen Marsh 1-7 0-0 2. Totals: 13-51 7-10 34. 3-point field goals: 1, (Vohs)