Wildcats light it up from outside in sub-state win at Coffeyville

COFFEYVILLE — It wasn’t the ideal scenario for Louisburg in its first round sub-state game.

The No. 10 seed Wildcats had to travel more than two hours to face off with No. 7 Coffeyville-Field Kindley with its season on the line against an unfamiliar opponent. 

As it turned out, Louisburg wouldn’t mind going back as the Wildcats put together its best shooting performance of the season. 

Louisburg shot better than 50 percent from the floor and knocked in 11 3-pointers in the Wildcats’ 68-58 victory Wednesday over the Golden Tornadoes. The Wildcats now move on to the sub-state championship game Saturday at Baldwin.

“It is awesome,” Louisburg coach Ben Doll said. “There are a lot of things that were working against us, whether it was our seed or going on a long road trip, but our guys just responded. I want to play more games in this gym. We shot so well in here, and I don’t know what it was, but our guys were seeing it the entire game.”

The Wildcats (9-12) shot 51 percent for the game and a bulk of those shots came from senior guards Nathan Parker and Luke Hill. 

Parker exploded with his best game of the season as he knocked in six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 29 points to go along with a team-high four assists. 

As for Hill, the Wildcat guard made four 3-pointers and finished with 15 points to go along with at team-high two steals.

“I am so happy for them,” Doll said. “They are both capable of going on runs like that and they are both capable of getting hot and this is the perfect time for them to do it. We did a good job of executing and running stuff for them and they both knocked them down when it was time to hit shots.”

It was a game of runs to start as the Wildcats jumped out to a 20-12 lead after the first quarter, but struggled in the second. Field Kindley outscored the Wildcats 19-9 before halftime and actually took a two-point lead.

After halftime, the Wildcats put together one of their best quarters of the season as they scored 24 points in the third period to go up 10.

“That was the difference in the game,” Doll said. “We have had third quarters where we have come out after halftime and not adjusted very well. I think zoning them a little bit helped, but if you shoot the ball well you are going to have a great chance to win and that is what we did.

“Basketball is a game of runs and you have to limit the runs your opponent goes on and we didn’t do a good job of that in the second quarter. Later in the game, we threw the zone at them and it worked for a while, until they started hitting shots. Then we got out of it and we were ok finding their shooters and blocking out.”

The Golden Tornadoes had one little run in them as they cut the lead to five midway through the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats hit a couple key baskets and free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Senior guard Brady Hickey joined Parker and Hill in double figures as he finished with 10 points to go along with four assists. Junior Conlee Hovey was a fixture on the boards for Louisburg as he pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Louisburg will now face No. 2 Baldwin in the sub-state championship at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The Wildcats will once again have to go on the road and face a team that has beaten them twice already this season.

“We know them very well,” Doll said. “There is an old saying, and I feel like it is true because I have been on the other side of it, is if you beat someone twice it is hard to beat them a third time because you know each other so well. They are a really good team. They have a driver in (Cooper) Carr, they have shooters and they have some bigs that are long and athletic and they alter a lot of shots. It will be a very tough game for us, but we are happy to be in this position and have a chance to go to Salina.”

LOU 20 9 24 15 — 68

COF 12 19 12 15 — 58

LOUISBURG (9-12): Nathan Parker 8-14 7-8 29; Luke Hill 5-8 1-2 15; Brady Hickey 4-8 1-2 10; Luke Schultz 3-4 0-0 6; Brock Vohs 1-2 2-4 4; Conlee Hovey 1-3 0-0 2; Gavin Lohse 0-1 2-2 2. Totals: 22-43 13-18 68. 3-point field goals: 11, (Parker 6, Hill 4, Hickey)

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