| Thunder storms past Wildcats on senior night |
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| Sports - Louisburg | |||
| Written by Andy Brown | |||
| Friday, 26 February 2010 09:00 | |||
LENEXA — The Louisburg boys’ basketball team had its hands full Tuesday night when it traveled to No. 10 ranked St. James Academy.  The Thunder feature one of the top teams in Class 4A, and as an added bonus, the Wildcats faced them on their senior night. However, it was a sophomore who provided Louisburg with all kinds of fits. St. James’ Clint McCullough, a 6-foot-6-inch forward, caused Louisburg numerous problems in the paint and scored a game-high 31 points to help his team to a 55-36 victory. In fact, only four players scored for the Thunder, but the Wildcats couldn’t do much about McCullough. “He is a great player,” Louisburg coach Chad Harvey said of McCullough. “He plays so smooth and is a pretty strong kid. We could have not let him catch the ball so close to the basket sometimes, but there wasn’t much we could do. I thought Ross (Dvorak) played good defense on him, and he made him work, we didn’t give him anything.” On the other side, the Thunder used a full-court press most of the game and didn’t give the Wildcats time to get in a rhythm offensively. St. James forced 10 first half turnovers, but still the Wildcats found themselves down by 12 points at halftime. Louisburg trailed by only two points at the end of the first quarter when David Embers finished a fast-break layup with one second left, but St. James poured on 18 second quarter points and McCullough scored 17 first half points to help pull away. “We didn’t handle their pressure very well,” Harvey said. “We had 10 first half turnovers, and when you do that, you are probably going to be down at halftime, especially to a team-like this. I think the effort was definitely there, but (St. James) is a good team too.” After an even third quarter, the Thunder sealed the win in the fourth with a 15-7 run. Embers led the Wildcats in scoring with 13 points and was the lone player in double figures. Clayton Houchen and Ross Dvorak each finished with seven points in the loss. The Wildcats (11-8) return to action tonight when they travel to De Soto in their final regular season game. Substate pairings were also released and Louisburg earned a No. 5 seed and will play in Spring Hill on Tuesday. Although, the outcome of the De Soto match-up doesn’t matter when it comes to substate pairings, Harvey believes this game is still important. “We want to win every game we play,” Harvey said. “Sure, it doesn’t matter what happens (Friday) as far as the postseason, but it is another league game for us and we need to play well.”
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