KCI basketball: West Platte, North Platte to meet in district semifinals

DEARBORN, Mo. — The West Platte and North Platte boys basketball teams were victorious in Class 2 District 15 opening round games on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at North Platte High School. 

The pair of victories sets up a rivalry showdown in the district semifinal round for Thursday, Feb. 21.

Third-seeded West Platte handled sixth-seeded Polo 47-30 and No. 7 North Platte upset Kansas City Lutheran 76-66 on Tuesday. 

The Bluejays (12-11) and Panthers (3-19) renew their rivalry at 7 p.m. Thursday in Dearborn. West Platte won both regular-season meetings by a combined 12 points.

In other action, top-seeded Plattsburg defeated No. 8 Northland Christian 78-47 and No. 5 Midway beat No. 4 Lone Jack 51-40 to set up the other semifinal game, which will tip at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

West Platte boys 47, Polo 30

West Platte locked down defensively to hold Polo to single digits in each quarter.

The Bluejays held leads of 14-9 after the first quarter, 22-13 at halftime and 38-22 after three frames.

Hunter Hendricks led the Bluejays with 15 points, while Phillip Pattison added 12 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the free-throw line. Noah Johnson chipped in nine points.

North Platte boys 76, KC Lutheran 66

Caine Huffman pumped in a game-high 30 points and eight treys to lead the Panthers to a playoff win and their third victory of the season. 

Huffman got started with a pair of 3s in the first quarter before adding four more deep balls to help North Platte to a 43-31 halftime advantage.

The junior added two more treys and a trio of free throws in a 21-point fourth quarter to elevate the Panthers past Lutheran, who cut the lead to 55-50 after the third quarter.

Senior Andrew Hernandez added 21 points and sophomore Jesse Martin chipped in 11 points.

North Platte girls 49, KC Lutheran 22

Third-seeded North Platte took care of business against Kansas City Lutheran in the opening round of the Class 2 District 15 girls tournament on Monday, Feb. 18 in Dearborn.

With the win, the Panthers (13-12) advanced to face second-seeded Lone Jack, who beat West Platte 54-32, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20 in the semifinal round.

Grace Rice finished with a game-high 16 points to lead the Panthers, who led 26-8 at halftime. Josie Roach added 10 points and a 3-pointer.

Lone Jack girls 54, West Platte 32

West Platte’s season came to an end with an opening-round loss to Lone Jack on Monday, Feb. 18. 

After scoring only seven in the first half, the Bluejays scored 15 and 10, respectively, in the final two frames. 

Lea Moose tallied 18 points and three treys to lead West Platte (1-19). Katie Tharp contributed 10 points.

Lone Jack led 8-4 after the first quarter, but used a 21-3 second quarter to go into the locker room ahead 29-7. Becca Roth led Lone Jack with 20 points.