by Brian Turrel
The Piper Pirates came back from a halftime deficit to beat the Louisburg Wildcats 57-44 on Friday night in Piper.
Piper got down early, giving the Wildcats early 5-0 and 7-2 leads. Piper couldn’t get its inside shots to fall, and didn’t stop the inside penetration by the Louisburg offense. Piper trailed 13-10 at the end of the first quarter and 25-23 at halftime.
Piper came out of the break with a renewed intensity on the defensive end. Four consecutive stops let them score the first 9 points, including breakaway dunks by Braijon Barnes and Brandon Jackson.
Louisburg made a run to pull with one early in the fourth quarter, but the Pirate defense clamped down again, and pulled away late for the 13-point winning margin.
Jackson led the team with 16 points, and Gabe Eskina contributed 12 points, seeing extensive minutes off the bench. Kohl Vogel of Louisburg scored 17 for the visitors, showing some great moves around the basket.
Piper advanced to 2-0 in the Frontier League (5-1 overall). They’ll play next on Monday, Dec. 17, at Hayden Catholic High School in Topeka.
