The Linn Wildcats had a plan on what they wanted to do offensively Wednesday night.
"I told the boys if we could keep the turnovers down and not be afraid to take the ball to the rim, we'd be OK," Linn coach Greg Koetting said. "We just didn't do those things very well."
Linn finished with 21 turnovers and shot just 33 percent from the field as the Wildcats dropped a 50-29 decision to the Salisbury Panthers in Class 2 sectional action at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"I kept hoping somebody would get hot and that would get the whole team going," Koetting said.
But that never happened. A 3-pointer by Ben Klebba pulled Linn into a tie at 7 with 2:12 left in the first quarter. But Salisbury closed with a 5-0 run, including a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer by Brady Francis, to take a 12-7 lead into the second period.
A long jumper by Linn's Tony Mebruer with 4:05 left in the half cut Salisbury's lead to 17-12. But the Wildcats didn't score the remainder of the quarter as the Panthers took a 23-12 advantage into halftime.
Linn was just 5-of-22 from the field in the first half, including 1-of-9 on 3-pointers.
"We didn't take the ball to the hole, we didn't handle their double-teams well and the shots weren't falling," Koetting said.
Salisbury, which was just 8-of-28 from the field in the half, started to pull away in the third quarter. Linn again had problems scoring, going without a point for the final 4:50 of the period, as Salisbury led 35-19 after three quarters.
Linn, which committed nine turnovers in the first half, had eight more in the third quarter.
"We didn't handle their traps well," Koetting said. "We got to the point where we weren't attacking and we were just happy to get a pass to somebody else. That's how we played early in the season and I thought we'd gotten over that. But it didn't happen tonight."
Salisbury opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to make it 42-19. Linn answered with eight straight points of its own to cut the deficit to 15 midway through the final period. But the Wildcats scored just two more points, none in the final 3:20 of the contest.
While the offense struggled, the Linn defense was strong for much of the contest.
"I think we did a pretty good job," Koetting said. "Fifty points is not bad defensively."
Francis paced second-ranked Salisbury with 24 points. Lane Springer added 14 as just five Panthers scored in the game.
Mebruer finished with eight points to pace Linn (18-11). Alec Strope and Daulton Neiderhelm, who battled foul trouble for much of the game, chipped in with seven points each.
Linn was coming off a thrilling two-point win Monday night against fourth-ranked Iberia in the district tournament final Monday night.
"Beating Iberia was such a big deal, we were excited to get out of districts," Koetting said. "I think we were so thrilled to win districts, maybe the focus wasn't there."
Linn finished the season winning 15 of its last 19 games.
"Two months ago when we were 3-7, if you would have told me we'd end up being here and 18-11, I'd have taken that 21-point loss," Koetting said. "We could have folded."
Salisbury (28-0) will face Canton (25-4) in the quarterfinals at noon Saturday at Moberly Area Community College.