Braydn Kemper has helped the Panthers enter the New Year with an 8-1 record – the program’s best since the 2015-16 season.
ST. JOSEPH – The North Platte boys’ basketball team (8-1) was on the nice list this Christmas season, unwrapping two wins in a pair of holiday-themed contests to end the calendar year.
The third time was the charm for North Platte in the Twelve Courts of Christmas as it earned a 63-26 win over Sweet Springs on Dec. 18. The Panthers had some troubles in their last two trips to Hy-Vee Arena, but that changed with the most one-sided margin of victory of the season.
“It feels good, everybody got to play so it’s always good whenever you can get everybody in and work on some stuff,” North Platte head boys’ basketball coach Braydn Kemper said. “I thought we did a good job of executing our game plan and I was pleased how we were able to have ball pressure out there and I think that dictated the tempo.”
For the second straight season, North Platte took on and defeated East Atchison (4-6) in the Civic Arena Holiday Hoops Tournament right after Twelve Courts of Christmas. Brenden Matt dropped 18 points to lead the Panthers to a 66-46 victory at the St. Joseph Civic Arena on Dec. 21.
Against Sweet Springs, North Platte scored the opening bucket and never looked back. The Panthers had 10 first quarter points in the paint and didn’t allow the Greyhounds to make a basket until there was less than two minutes left in the frame.
Matt knocked down a triple with 30 seconds left in the first quarter and Creek Johnson made a layup ahead of the buzzer to make the score 14-7. The Panthers had four players sink a shot from deep in the second quarter – including back-to-back 3-pointers by Matt in the final 28 seconds – to have a comfortable 40-13 halftime lead.
“We took a lot of outside shots, and I was a little worried how quick we were shooting into our offense at the start. I really wanted to get it inside-out and we started to move the ball a little bit better, and shots started dropping,” Kemper said.
Defensively, North Platte made it difficult for its opponent all night long. Until there was a layup with 1:46 left in the third quarter, Sweet Springs failed to score a point that wasn’t from the charity stripe or behind the arc.
“We’ve put an emphasis since before the year on shutting down the driving lanes, really protecting the paint and that’s something that has been a staple of our defense. I thought the ball pressure was lacking a little in the first half, but then we picked it up. I’m glad that we didn’t let up a two-point bucket until late in the third, that makes you feel good,” Kemper said.
The entire fourth quarter had a running clock due to having such a large lead and North Platte won its fourth straight game for the first time in the Kemper era. North Platte extended that win streak to five games in St. Joseph, which is the longest the program has had since the 2015-16 season.
North Platte will enter the New Year with one win shy of the season total of each of the last two years. The Panthers will have a decent break until they head to Maysville (7-0) – the team that has eliminated North Platte in districts the last two seasons – on Jan. 3.