Jays win KCI crown on Roe three

When the game is on the line, coaches want the ball in the hands of their best players. Opposing teams want to keep the ball out of those hands. Last Saturday night in Dearborn, West Platte boys basketball coach Zane Tanner got what he wanted. Lawson did not. The result was West Platte senior Adam Roe, the reigning Class 2 player of the year, hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Jays a 64-61 win in the championship game of the KCI Conference Tournament. Roe’s game-winner gave him a game-high 29 points and came after Lawson turned the ball over with 4.5 seconds left and the score knotted at 61-61. Tanner said his team executed the out-of-bounds play the way he had drawn it up. “We set up a play to get Adam the ball deep or if they took that away, Bryce (Cashman) up the sideline and look to Adam again, with Cody Guthrie coming off a screen,” Tanner said. “Bryce found Adam at half court and he took two dribbles and hit a three-pointer for the win.” West Platte struggled in the first half, connecting on just 10 of 32 field goal attempts, and Lawson carried a 34-27 into halftime. But the Jays found their shooting touch in the second half, hitting 13 of 18 shot attempts, including 7-of-8 in the fourth quarter. “I felt Lawson outplayed us tonight,” Tanner said. “But you have to give our kids credit — they never gave up and made plays when they had to.” In addition to Roe’s 29, Cashman scored 18 points and Colton Goodlet scored nine points. West Platte also connected on 12-of-16 free throw attempts. West Platte pummeled Mid-Buchanan 79-42 in the tournament semifinals Dec. 10. Roe scored 20 points, Goodlet, 17 and Dillon Crockett, 13. The Jays outscored the Dragons 40-16 in the second half. West Platte was set to play at KC Lutheran Dec. 16 and will host Plattsburg in its final game of 2013 on Dec. 20.