Louisburg comeback falls short against Eudora

By Andy Brown
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Updated: December 15, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg senior Dalton Ribordy puts a up a shot in-between two Eudora defenders Tuesday at Eudora High School. Ribordy led the Wildcats with 13 points to go along with seven rebounds and six steals.

EUDORA – Things looked bleak for the Louisburg High School boys basketball team early in its Frontier League opener against Eudora.

Eudora jumped out to a 15-point lead in the first quarter before the Wildcats even had a chance to make a field goal. It had all makings of a game that was getting ready to get out of hand.

Instead, the Wildcats put together a big run of their own and eventually took a short lead late in the first half. However, Louisburg found itself in another big hole in the second half, and this time it couldn’t climb out of it in a 59-49 loss Tuesday in Eudora.

Despite the sebackt, Louisburg head coach Ty Pfannenstiel found a few positives to build on, including that big first half rally.

“I was really proud of them to be able to battle back from that,” Pfannenstiel said. “That was as slow of a start that we can have and we struggled to score. I told them that we were going to have to come back possession by possession and that we couldn’t get it all back at once. It starts on the defense end, and I thought that was really good to see.”

Louisburg (1-4) found itself down 17-2 to start the game before junior Kohl Vogel hit a 3-pointer for the Wildcats’ first field goal of the game and senior Dalton Ribordy followed it up with another bucket to cut the lead to 10 going into the second quarter.

The Wildcats outscored the Cardinals 17-7 before halftime and actually took a 24-22 advantage with a minute left in the first half on a layup from senior Ben Minster. Eudora tied the game again with 35 seconds left and the two teams were knotted at 24-all going into the locker room.

Although Louisburg had momentum on its side going into the second half, Eudora got out to another quick start as it went on a 13-4 run and the Wildcats trailed by nine going into the final period.

Senior Justin Sievert rises up for a shot Tuesday at Eudora.

Eudora increased its lead to 13 in the fourth quarter and Louisburg could overcome another big deficit this time around. The Wildcats also had a tough time stopping Eudora forward Rock Jerome, who finished with a game-high 22 points.

“Those guards are pretty good,” Pfannenstiel said. “They can take it off the dribble and they were smooth. It seemed like Eudora came out with a little more energy to start the second half. They were able to get a couple quick buckets and gave them some momentum. Both halves we started off slow, especially in the first half. If we don’t get down 15, then I think the game is a different story.

“We knew going in that Eudora is good defensively. A lot of their games have been low-scoring and we struggled to get into any flow offensively. We just have to find ways to go through those huge scoring droughts.”

Louisburg got a big game from Ribordy as he led the Wildcats in scoring with 13 points to go along with seven rebounds. He also led Louisburg defensively with a team-high six steals.

“I thought Dalton had a really good game and I thought he brought a lot of energy and leadership that we needed,” Pfannenstiel said. “We need start working the ball through him a lot more. That is when we started making our runs is when he was being aggressive and we were making it a point to get him the ball.”

Senior Desmond Doles also finished in double figures for the Wildcats with 10 points and three steals. Junior Brayden Gage added seven points in the loss.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats as they will host Ottawa on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff in their final game before the holiday break. Ottawa is currently ranked No. 6 in Class 4A-Division I.

“We have a week to prepare and they are traditionally good every year,” Pfannenstiel said of Ottawa. “We just have to keep plugging away and working hard in practice. I think defensively we will stay in games, but we have to do more on the offensive end to be able to hang with these teams and not get in these big holes.”

LOU 7 17 10 15 – 49

EUD 17 7 19 16 – 59

LOUISBURG (1-4): Dalton Ribordy 13, Desmond Doles 10, Brayden Gage 7, Ben Minster 5, Dylan DeShazer 5, Justin Sievert 4, Kohl Vogel 3, Noah Hill 2. Totals: 19-39 8-12 49. 3-point field goals: 3, (Gage, Vogel, DeShazer)