Seuferling’s game winner lifts Louisburg to first victory of season

Louisburg senior Michael Seuferling (2) was congratulated by his teammates Tuesday at Burlington High School following his game-winning shot with one second left.

BURLINGTON — In a one point game between Louisburg and Burlington, chaos took place in the final 20 seconds.

Missed shots, fighting for loose balls, diving on the floor — both teams left it all out on the floor hoping the game would go their way. With Louisburg down a point, the Wildcats got the bounce they were looking for.

After a couple missed shots, Louisburg senior Michael Seuferling was in the right place at the right time as he got the rebound and scored to give the Wildcats the one-point lead with 1 second remaining.

Burlington couldn’t get a good look and Louisburg got the 52-51 win, which was its first of the season.

“The (assistant) coaches were telling me that we still had a timeout left, but I thought we might be able to get a putback and that might be our best opportunity there,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said of the final 20 seconds. I am glad I didn’t because it worked out.

“We talk about playing hard, smart and tough and you can never fault our kids’ effort. They are always going to play hard, but there will always be mistakes made in games. Burlington is a good team and can do a lot of things. We were able to take advantage of some things and the ball just kind of bounced our way at the end.”

The Wildcats (1-1) struggled at times in the first half and it led to a 26-19 deficit going into halftime, so Pfannenstiel decided to change it up. Louisburg went to a zone defense and it seemed to slow down Burlington.

Louisburg doubled its first half scoring output in the third quarter with 19 points and tied the game at 38-all going into the final quarter.

“We came out in zone in the second half to change things up a little bit and it turned out to be pretty effective and got us back in it,” Pfannenstiel said. “We got stops when we needed to and we made big plays at the end and that was the biggest thing. Things went our way, got some our extra opportunities and we were able to get it done.”

Seuferling, who finished with a game-high 22 points, came to life in the third quarter to help give the Wildcats the boost they needed. The Louisburg senior scored 13 points in the third and later would come up with the late game heroics.

“Michael is someone that plays with a lot of energy all the time,” Pfannenstiel said. “It doesn’t matter if we are up 30 or down 30, you are going to see the same type of player. He just goes about the game the right way. We need him on offense for us this year. This summer he had a lot of really good games and he is good in transition.”

Louisburg was down five points with 45 seconds left, but Seuferling hit a basket to cut it to 3. Burlington then hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it a four point game. 

Junior Colyer Wingfield grabbed the rebound on the miss and went the length of the floor to make the layup and was fouled. He converted the 3-point play to make it a one-point game.

Louisburg fouled again and Burlington missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and the Wildcats had the chance to pull out the win. After a couple missed shots, Seuferling fought for the rebound, got it and drove to the basket to score with one second left.

Several Wildcats hit big shots down the stretch in the second half. Senior guard Maverick Rockers scored in double figures with 11 points and a pair of three pointers, while senior Carson Kern came off the bench to score six.

Wingfield and Mack Newell were big in the rebounding department for Louisburg as Newell had a game-high 13 rebounds. Wingfield finished with nine boards.

“We had a lot of guys really step up for us,” Pfannenstiel said. “Carson Kern gave us good minutes off the bench and Mav was solid for us again. Then Colyer and Mack were both solid for us on the boards. What they did rebounding for us was huge.”

Louisburg will try for back to back wins tonight as the Wildcats host Anderson County for their home opener.

LOU 12 7 19 14 — 52

BUR 13 13 12 13 — 51

LOUISBURG (1-1): Michael Seuferling 9-20 4-7 22; Maverick Rockers 4-10 1-2 11; Mack Newell 3-9 0-0 6; Carson Kern 2-4 1-2 6; Colyer Wingfield 1-2 3-6 5; Isaac Guetterman 0-1 2-2 2. Totals: 19-46 11-19 52. 3-point field goals: 3, (Rockers 2, Kern)

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