The North Platte boys’ basketball team (7-10) went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the state for three quarters before the game got out of reach late against Plattsburg (18-0) on Jan. 20.
The Tigers entered the day as the No. 2 team in all of Class 2 and ranked 11th in the KC Metro for all classes. Plattsburg showed why that was in a 44-30 victory, but North Platte didn’t go down without a fight.
It was a defensive battle early with no scoring until North Platte senior Wesley Meadows made a layup 4:35 into the game before Plattsburg tied the game at two. Westin Snook then sunk a triple from the right wing to put North Platte back up 5-2 with right over three minutes to play.
That was the last time North Platte led on its courtwarming. The Tigers responded with an 8-0 run to close out the opening frame and the Panthers trailed 10-5.
A frequent trend in this game was that every time the Panthers brought it within reaching distance, the Tigers would respond with a run of their own. Brenden Matt and Creek Johnson scored two straight buckets to start the second quarter to close the gap to 12-9, but then Plattsburg scored seven unanswered points.
Johnson added a pair of free throws with 1:03 left in the half and North Platte went into the locker room trailing 19-11. North Platte freshmen Dylan Armstrong and Matt had big third quarters, scoring all the Panthers’ 13 points in the frame.
Armstrong made a layup in the opening 13 seconds, but the Plattsburg lead was pushed back to 22-13. Matt knocked down two straight triples – with the Tigers scoring two points between the shots – and the game was within five points right under the six minute mark.
In the next four minutes, the Tigers scored seven of the next nine points until Matt made yet another shot from behind the arc to make the score 31-24. The Tigers scored the last five points of the quarter with a pair of free throws and a buzzer beating shot from the top of the arc in transition.
Matt and Snook both made a deep shot from the right wing in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, but there wasn’t another made basket from either team after the 4:36 mark. After Snook made his second 3-pointer of the day, a pair of free throws by Plattsburg with 2:57 to play were the only points for the rest of the night.
Shortly before this game, North Platte was briefly within one game of .500. After winning three straight games and becoming victorious in the First Annual WildCard Invitational, the Panthers moved to 7-8 on the season.
The Panthers fell 66-45 to North Andrew (11-4) on Jan. 16 and are now three games under .500 ahead of the North Platte Tournament. North Platte will have a tough road ahead in the tournament as it entered as the No. 7 seed with a matchup against Mid-Buchanan (10-6) on Jan. 24.