Two days after erasing a fourth-quarter deficit to take down Kansas City Lutheran (0-1), the North Platte boys’ basketball team (2-1) lost its first game of the season to a talented Lone Jack squad (5-0) on Dec. 1.
North Platte senior Creek Johnson had a career-high 20 points against Kansas City Lutheran on Nov. 29.
With seven matchups between the two teams since the 2017-18 season, neither North Platte nor Kansas City Lutheran has been able to win two consecutive games in the series during that time frame. After the Panthers fell 61-46 last year – which gave coach Bradyn Kemper his first career loss as a head coach – they fought back from a pair of 27-19 halftime and 42-37 third quarter deficits to win 64-52 on Nov. 29.
North Platte’s offense and defense clicked late, outscoring the Knights 27 to 10 in the final eight minutes of play. Creek Johnson had a career-high 20 points – with the help of four points from the charity stripe – along with grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots.
The freshman duo of Dylan Armstrong and Brenden Matt scored 13 points each with Armstrong having a double-double in his second career varsity game when he snagged 11 boards, while also forcing three steals. Westin Snook scored 10 points and recorded two steals while Wesley Meadows had eight points and one steal to help complete the comeback win.
Next up for North Platte was a team who entered the matchup with 27 wins and only three losses dating back to the start of last season. The Panthers jumped out to 12-10 advantage after one and trailed 21-19 at the break but Lone Jack’s 34 free throw attempts to North Platte’s 12 was a huge factor down the stretch.
The game was within five points with right around three minutes left until the Mules closed it out and won 63-47. Matt made three shots from deep to lead the Panthers with 13 points and Snook added 10 points.
Coming off its first loss of the year, North Platte entered the KCI Conference Tournament as the No. 7 seed and was scheduled to play second-seeded Plattsburg (2-0) on Dec. 6. With a win, the Panthers would move on to the semifinals on Dec. 9 and with a loss would be on the consolation side of the bracket on Dec. 8 against Lawson (2-1) or Lathrop (0-2) at West Platte High School.