Guetterman, Harding pace Wildcats in blowout win

Louisburg senior Grant Harding finishes off an alley-oop after a pass from teammate Jayce Geiman on Friday in the final game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic at Burlington Middle School. 

BURLINGTON – Sam Guetterman was just in the right place at the right time – after time, after time.

In fact, Anderson County couldn’t keep track of the Louisburg senior. Whether it was as simple as a pull-up jumper, an offensive rebound or the beneficiary of a pass from a teammate, Guetterman made the most of every chance.

Guetterman scored a game-high 26 points as he helped Louisburg to its second straight win with a 75-49 victory over Anderson County. Several of those points came thanks to senior teammate Grant Harding who found an open Guetterman while driving to the basket.

“That was really great to see and Sammy played a great game,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “He and Grant worked really well together and defensively he was always solid. Offensively, that is what he is capable of. He found his opportunities and he exploited it every single time. It was fantastic to see.”

Guetterman shot close to 70 percent from the field as he converted on 12 of 17 shots to go along with five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.

Harding had an efficient night as well as he finished with 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting, including a pair of dunks to help to get his team going. One of those dunks came in the first quarter on an alley-oop from fellow senior Jayce Geiman.

Other than the final four minutes of the second quarter, the Wildcats dominated the Bulldogs offensively and shot 52 percent from the field for the game.

Louisburg (2-2) opened the game on a 20-9 run in the first quarter, including eight points from Guetterman. After a dunk and a steal from Harding, the Wildcats led 28-14 with five minutes left in the first half.

Anderson County responded with a 12-3 run to get back into the game as the Wildcats led 31-26 at halftime.

The Wildcats got the lead right back to double digits in less than three minutes as they opened the second half 12-5 on baskets from juniors Ben Minster and Dalton Ribordy, Guetterman and a 3-pointer from Harding.

Louisburg senior Sam Guetterman goes up for two of his 26 points Friday against Anderson County.

Louisburg outscored Anderson County 26-9 in the third quarter to all but seal the game for the Wildcats and they were able to do it without one of their starters. Senior forward T.J. Dover was out with an illness, so the rest of the Wildcats picked up the slack.

Minster took Dover’s place in the starting lineup and scored in double figures with 13 points, while Ribordy and Desmond Doles each pulled down a team-high five rebounds.

“We played fantastic,” Nelson said. “We really asserted ourselves on both ends of the floor. We crashed hard and communicated on defense. We knew we were going to be thin on the bench missing T.J., and Ben wasn’t feeling well either, but we picked each other up. It was fantastic. Offensively, we took high-percentage shots and we didn’t settle. We asserted ourselves defensively and we set the tone with perimeter defense.”

In fact, the Wildcats missed different players with illness throughout the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic, but were still able to finish with a 2-1 record, with their lone loss coming against Burlington earlier in the week.

“They picked each other up and did a fantastic job,” Nelson said. “I would like to have that Burlington game back, but it was everything you could ask for. We used all 10 of our players tonight and everyone did something well. Monday we get back to work and fix the couple errors that we have.”

Louisburg will get into Frontier League play starting this week and it will be tested early. The Wildcats host Eudora, the No. 7 team in Class 4A Division I, on Tuesday. Then next week, the Wildcats will travel to No. 3 Ottawa before they take a break for the holidays.

“I will be glad to have a home game more than anything else,” Nelson said. “If you believe all the preseason standings, (Ottawa and Eudora) were the No. 1 and 2 teams in our league, so we will see what we are made of pretty soon.”

LOU               20           11           26           18 – 75

BUR               9             17           9             14 – 49

LOUISBURG (2-2): Sam Guetterman 26, Grant Harding 19, Ben Minster 13, Dalton Ribordy 6, Desmond Doles 4, Jayce Geiman 3, Dalton Stone 3, Jake Hill 1. Totals: 31-55 8-15 75. 3-point field goals: 5, (Harding 2, Geiman, Guetterman, Stone)

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