Wildcats get first victory of season over Baldwin

Louisburg junior Ben Minster goes up for a shot against Baldwin on Tuesday in the second game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic at Burlington Middle School. The Wildcats picked up their first victory of the season, 63-50.

BURLINGTON – In its third game of the year, and its second in as many nights, the Louisburg boys basketball team was able to get its first victory of the season and the Wildcats weren’t about to let it get away – no matter what their opponent threw at them.

Louisburg faced off with Baldwin in the second game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic at Burlington Middle School, and despite a barrage of eight second half 3-pointers from the Bulldogs, Louisburg came away with a 63-50 victory.

“Given how poorly we played the night before, to come out here with the mentality to rectify the errors we made in our last game, for the most part we did that,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them about that and says a lot about the team mentally and physically to play on back to back nights.”

The Wildcats (1-2) used a couple big runs to pull away from the Bulldogs, who found themselves playing catch up most of the evening. Louisburg went on a 15-2 run to end the first half and took a 15-point halftime advantage.

Baldwin, which had 11 3-pointers in the game, converted eight of them in the second half to eventually cut the Louisburg lead to seven points with 3 minutes and 45 seconds left in the game.

From there, the Wildcats created some more distance as they finished on a 10-4 run, including six straight points from senior Grant Harding – two of which came on a steal and a breakaway dunk. Baskets from senior T.J. Dover and junior Ben Minster helped ice the game during the stretch.

“We have to have the mindset throughout the whole game and not just stretches, even though it is nice when they do it,” Nelson said of the offensive spurts. “We had another run at the end of the fourth quarter. During those stretches, the guys were acting instinctively, instead of reactionary. When these guys are instinctive, they can do some really good things.”

Louisburg senior Jake Hill dribbles toward the basket during Tuesday’s contest in Baldwin.

In the second quarter, Louisburg led just 17-15 but five straight free throws from Minster and Harding, along with baskets from Minster, Sam Guetterman, Jake Hill and Harding helped key the big first half run.

Louisburg had to play with some adversity most of the night as it didn’t have starting forward Dalton Ribordy, who was out with an illness. Dover, the team’s other starting forward, was saddled with foul trouble for much of the night.

The Wildcats were forced to play smaller with juniors Desmond Doles and Minster, but those two players, along with Hill, picked up the slack. Minster scored in double figures with 14 points while Doles and Hill combined for 10 points.

“This was our best team game of the season,” Nelson said. “We had guys come off the bench and do some really nice things. We had to play smaller than we usually do, but our rotations were good. Ben and Dez stepped up big time for us. Without Dalton we are pretty thin, but it was nice to see those other guys play well.”

Harding led Louisburg in scoring with 19 points, and along with Minster, the Wildcats had three score in double figures as Dover finished with 10. Harding also led the Wildcats with five rebounds and three steals.

Louisburg will try for its second straight win Friday when it travels back to Burlington to play Anderson County for the final game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic.

LOU               14           8              17           14 – 63

BAL                11           6              22           11 – 50

LOUISBURG (1-2): Grant Harding 19, Ben Minster 14, T.J. Dover 10, Jayce Geiman 6, Desmond Doles 6, Sam Guetterman 4, Jake Hill 4. Totals: 21-42 17-27 63. 3-point field goals: 2, (Geiman 2)

LOUISBURG LOSES TOURNEY OPENER TO BURLINGTON

The Louisburg boys basketball team had an opportunity to defend its Wildcat-Bulldog Classic title Monday when they traveled to Burlington in the first of the three-game round-robin tournament.

Those title hopes took a hit as Burlington scored 22 fourth quarter points to defeat Louisburg 60-52 after Louisburg held a one-point lead going into the final frame.

“They zoned us quite a bit and we didn’t have good communication,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “We didn’t rebound real well and had some turnovers. We had a few calls that didn’t go our way, but we didn’t react the way we needed to.”

Burlington had a big night at the free-throw line as it converted 23 of 31 from the stripe, compared to just 11 for 16 for Louisburg. The Wildcats shot 37 percent for the game.

Senior T.J. Dover led Louisburg in scoring with 10 points, while Minster also finished double figures with 10.

LOU               9              13           17           13 – 52

BUR               9              18           11           22 – 60

LOUISBURG: T.J. Dover 12, Ben Minster 10, Grant Harding 9, Jayce Geiman 8, Sam Guetterman 6, Desmond Doles 5, Jake Hill 2. Totals: 19-51 11-16 52. 3-point field goals: 3, (Geiman 2, Harding)

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