Wildcats end season with loss to Paola on Senior Night

The emotions were all over the place Friday for the Louisburg boys basketball team.

Not only was it Senior Night against one of their rivals in Paola, but the Wildcats were coming off a buzzer-beating loss two days earlier that all but ended their hopes of making the state playoffs.

Still, they wanted nothing more than to end their season with a win. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Paola pulled away as it scored 21 third quarter points and handed Louisburg a 53-47 loss on Senior Night.

It was also the final game for five Wildcat seniors in Myles Vohs, Luke Schultz, Gavin Lohse, Billy Vohs and Will Goode.

“I thought they did a really good job because it was just so heartbreaking what happened on Wednesday,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “The goal on Friday was to start and play those five seniors a lot and those guys did a really good job playing together. They executed a lot of stuff, hit some shots and we had a lead through a big portion of the game. Billy, who hadn’t played a lot of minutes before Friday, did a really good job and was happy for all them to be able to play together and play well for most of the game.”

The Wildcats (3-17) just couldn’t get much going offensively, but did take a 22-21 lead at halftime. The Panthers caught fire in the third quarter and Louisburg couldn’t recover as they shot just 27 percent for the game.

“It was just the story of our season,” Doll said .”We weren’t the greatest shooting team and we missed a lot of things around the basket and that is a big difference between winning and losing. That was definitely evident in that game. I thought our defense was pretty good. We got into some foul trouble, but still we had some other guys fill in and did a solid job overall, especially at the end.”

Louisburg jumped out strong on Paola as it took at 13-5 lead after one quarter and held on for the 1-point halftime lead. The Panthers outscored Louisburg 21-12 in the third quarter to pull away.

Myles Vohs led the Wildcats on both ends of the floor as he scored a team-high 12 points to go along with six steals. He also had four rebounds and three assists.

Schultz added nine points in the loss, while junior Derek Frederick added eight. Lohse and Goode each had seven points, while Lohse had a team-high nine rebounds and Goode had seven.

It was a senior class that Doll has gotten to know quite a bit in his two years as head coach.

“Gavin, Luke and Myles played a lot of minutes, not just this year, but last year as well,” Doll said. “They provided a lot to our team and I’m definitely going to miss those guys. All those seniors brought important things to our program that we needed. The wins and losses really didn’t go the way we wanted them to this season, but the four seniors that were there with us all season were always ready to go at practice. We lost some close games in the last week of the season, but those guys gave us the opportunity to get us where we needed to go. We just fell short in these last few.”

LOU 13 9 12 13 — 47

PAO 5 16 21 11 — 53

LOUISBURG (3-17): Myles Vohs 5-13 2-5 12; Luke Schultz 1-8 6-10 9; Derek Frederick 2-4 2-2 8; Gavin Lohse 2-6 3-4 7; Will Goode 2-6 2-4 7; Billy Vohs 1-7 0-0 3; Lance Callahan 0-1 1-3 1. Totals: 14-47 16-28 47. 3-point field goals: 5, (Frederick 2, B. Vohs, Goode, Schultz) 

Wildcats fall at the buzzer to Eudora

The Louisburg boys needed a win last Wednesday against Eudora in the worst way.

The Wildcats found themselves on the outside looking when it came to the playoffs and they had to beat the Cardinals to give themselves a reasonable shot.

Louisburg was right where it wanted to be as it held a 2-point lead with less than five seconds left. It turned out to be too much time for Eudora.

The Cardinals passed the ball up the court and Ryan Osburn hit a running 3-pointer that banked off the backboard and went in as Eudora handed Louisburg a tough 47-46 loss at the buzzer.

“It was a big blow and was incredibly deflating for everyone involved,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “We had chances all through the game to give ourselves more of cushion than just a two point game there at the end. Crazy things can happen in that situation and you see it at all levels of basketball.

“You look back and wonder what you could have different at the end of the game, but there were so many other opportunities earlier as well that would have put us in a better spot,” Doll said. 

Louisburg found itself down most of the second half, but made big plays in the fourth quarter to take the lead, including a 3-point play from Luke Schultz and an acrobatic drive by Myles Vohs to put the Wildcats up 37-36.

Eudora came back to take a 40-37 advantage, but Vohs tied it with a 3-pointer. Gavin Lohse and Derek Frederick each hit a pair of free throws to put Louisburg 46-42.

With under 30 seconds left, Eudora scored on a second chance opportunity to make it 46-44. The Cardinals got the ball with another chance to tie or take the lead, but missed two shots and had to foul with 4.9 seconds left.

The Wildcats couldn’t take advantage at the line as they missed both chances, which gave Eudora one last opportunity that it would convert.

The Wildcats played another close game the day before against Blue Valley Southwest, but lost 55-47 to the Class 5A program.

Louisburg used a 13-4 third quarter to get back in the game and take a 40-36 lead,  but Southwest went on a 17-7 run in the fourth quarter to pull away.

Will Goode led the Wildcats with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. Luke Schultz and Gavin Lohse each tallied nine points and Schultz had seven rebounds. Myles Vohs had eight points and three assists.

LOU 8 10 12 16 — 46

EUD 7 15 12 13 — 47

LOUISBURG: Myles Vohs 6-12 3-4 16; Gavin Lohse 3-7 5-6 11; Luke Schultz 3-8 2-3 9; Lance Callahan 2-6 0-0 6; Derek Frederick 0-5 2-2 2; Will Goode 1-6 0-2 2. Totals: 15-47 12-17 46. 3-point field goals: 4, (Callahan 2, Vohs, Schultz)

LOU 17 10 13 7 — 47

BVSW 18 16 4 17 — 55

LOUISBURG: Will Goode 7-15 2-2 17; Gavin Lohse 3-9 3-6 9; Luke Schultz 3-7 3-4 9; Myles Vohs 3-14 1-1 8; Derek Frederick 1-4 0-0 2; Lance Callahan 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 18-54 9-13 47. 3-point field goals: 2, (Vohs, Goode)

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