Blue Jay senior Dalton Hill, above, knocks down a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter of the West Platte’s season opener loss to the Golden eagles at Bishop LeBlond High School on Nov. 22.
The West Platte boys’ basketball team turned a 19-point fourth quarter deficit to within seven points in the final two minutes in the Blue Jays’ season opener against Bishop LeBlond, but they were unable to pull off the comeback and lost 59-49 on Nov. 22.
With 6:08 remaining in the contest, the Eagles led 46-27 and were on a 17-3 run dating back to the 2:50 mark in the third quarter. West Platte called a timeout and the Blue Jays’ leading scorer, Ryan Pattison, knocked down his second 3-pointer of the period with 5:52 left to start a 19-7 run.
LeBlond didn’t make a field goal for the next three minutes and West Platte narrowed the deficit 48-38 with 3:53 remaining. After the Blue Jays and Eagles shared a pair of 2-point buckets, Dalton Hill scored five straight points and Trent Taylor scored a fast break layup with 1:32 remaining as LeBlond clung on to a 53-46 lead.
“Our guys never gave up and battled back,” West Plate head coach Tyler Funk said. “We were right there; we just have to execute better at a higher level.”
The Eagles knocked down their free throws late and were able to hold off the Blue Jays who refused to give up. West Platte outscored LeBlond 22-13 in the final six minutes of the contest.
“I told them that when we play with a lot of energy, we are better and faster offensively. We weren’t as stagnant because we were in panic mode, but we need to play with a bit more of that urgency in that first half and not have to rely on a late surge to win games,” Fulk said.
It was a low scoring first quarter with both teams struggling to get going when the Eagles led 9-7. LeBlond extended its lead in the second quarter and West Platte trailed 23-16 at the break.
“We came out and defended well in the first half, but we couldn’t get the offense going – we were a bit stagnant. We had to press a little bit to get our offense into rhythm,” Funk said.
West Platte struggled from the charity stripe, only making eight of its 21 attempts, including only two of its eight first half attempts. Both teams shot well from behind the arc with seven apiece – Pattison knocked down four, while Charlie Kinslow, Mason Montez and Hill all knocked one down. Pattison led the team with 19 points and Hill added 10 points off the bench.