The West Platte bench celebrates after a made 3-pointer in the second half of the Blue Jays’ 62-41 win over Kingsville in the 12 Courts of Christmas at Hy-Vee Arena on Dec. 21.
KANSAS CITY – After getting bested in four of the last five times they stepped on the basketball court, the West Platte boys (4-4) earned a much-needed win ahead of Christmas break in the Twelve Courts of Christmas at Hy-Vee Arena on Dec. 21.
West Platte took on Kingsville (5-5) and pulled off a 62-41 win, picking up the pace in the second quarter. The first eight minutes were tight with three ties and four lead changes, and the Tigers pushed the margin to 14-8 – thanks to their 6’10 post – with right over a minute left.
In the final 45 seconds of the first period, Kane Cogan sank a trey from the right corner and Myles McHenry had a put-back bucket in transition to make the score 14-13. Cohen Kite added another transition layup to put West Platte up 15-14 early in the second quarter and Kingsville never led again.
“We didn’t execute in the first quarter; we kind of let them do what they wanted and throw it into their big guy,” West Platte head boys’ basketball coach Tyler Funk said. “He’s as good as any big we’ve seen at the high school level, so we wanted to put pressure on him, turn the ball over and get some easy buckets. Once we started doing that, and they adjusted, we found some success.”
West Platte relied heavily on transition points in the second quarter with 10 of its first 12 points in the frame coming that way. Whether it was on a quick outlet after a defensive rebound or a steal or a press breaker, the Blue Jays put points on the board quickly.
“Transition was definitely an emphasis. I was telling the kids that I’m tired of calling plays so hopefully they can get out in transition, and we did that today. I think we realized that we’re not in the greatest shape to do that so we need to push ourselves in practice to get in that kind of shape so we can run teams down,” Funk said.
West Platte outscored Kingsville 19 to six in the second quarter, starting and ending the period with major runs. The Blue Jays scored the first six points and the last seven points of the frame to lead 33-19 at halftime and they never led by less than 12 points the rest of the way.
West Platte has had an up-and-down season so far, winning its first two games, then losing the next two before beating Kansas City Lutheran (3-2) 74-29 on Dec. 12. West Platte scored 42 points in a pair of single-digit losses to North Platte (8-1) and Bishop LeBlond (6-3) ahead of Twelve Courts of Christmas.
“It’s a big win; we thought we were right there in a lot of those games and we just need to make winning plays so we were emphasizing that in practice to get some momentum. We’ll spend some time with family for the holiday, come back and practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and get right back at it with three games in a row,” Funk said.
West Platte will play in the Bishop LeBlond Holiday Tournament in St. Joseph, starting on Dec. 27. The Blue Jays will open up with a matchup with Nodaway Valley on Dec. 27.
“We’ve never done this tournament since I’ve been here, and I know they haven’t really done it in the past. It’s kind of a different schedule for us, but I’m excited to play some games instead of just practicing every day for two weeks straight,” Funk said.