North Platte senior point guard Landon Bartlett, above, scored seven points in his final game for the Panthers on Feb. 21.
When the opening night of boys’ action in the Class 2 District 15 Tournament came to a close, the North Platte boys’ basketball team’s (9-18) bounce-back season came to an end with a 61-50 loss to Maysville (18-6) on Feb. 21.
Entering the night with many milestones already reached in the first year with 24-year-old head coach Braydn Kemper, it was a second half scoring drought that led to the Panthers being eliminated from postseason play. Following an opening half that saw North Platte leading all but the first 2:45 of the game – which saw an 18-8 first quarter margin and 28-23 lead at the break – it appeared that there was a lid on the basket in the second half when the Panthers were getting good looks but were unable to convert.
“Sometimes shots don’t fall; I thought we were getting the looks we wanted, they just weren’t going in,” Kemper said. “After the game I gave them the old life metaphor, ‘Sometimes in life, things don’t go our way,’ and I don’t think tonight in the second half it went our way.”
After a Wesley Meadows’ euro-step layup with 6:39 to play in the third quarter put the Panthers up 30-27, the Wolverines made back-to-back 3-pointers to regain the lead and never trailed again. That sparked a 10 to zero Maysville run before Kruise Patch sank a shot from deep and Meadows converted on a 3-point play, and North Platte trailed 43-36 entering the final quarter.
With right over two minutes left, Maysville had extended its lead to 13 when Patch pulled up from nearly half court and the shot was nothing but net. The Wolverines scored on the ensuing possession before Panther freshman Westin Snook banked in a 3-pointer – followed by a runner by Patch and layup by Landon Bartlett – but it was too little, too late.
“We weren’t satisfied with our loss tonight; it hurts having that end the way it did, but I’m proud of the boys. We all wanted this win tonight and the fact that we didn’t and that we also didn’t get 10 wins is something that we can build on,” Kemper said.
Ahead of the tip-off against Maysville, North Platte entered the night with zero players who had ever played in a district contest before. Last season the Panthers had to forfeit their opening game due to Covid-19 protocols so the upperclassmen, who weren’t in the rotation in the most recent district contest that took place in 2020, never had any postseason exposure before their most recent game.
After the loss, North Platte had to say goodbye to their three seniors: Patch, Bartlett and Riley Hyde. The trio left a legacy and impact on their program and ended their careers on a high-note, being the Panthers’ top-3 leading scorers in the district game – Patch scored 22 points, Hyde had nine points and Bartlett ended with seven points.
“I had three phenomenal seniors to build this on and I told them after the game that they are the foundation of any success that we have moving forward. They built the base blocks to what we are building here so they can always be proud of what they left with,” Kemper said.
While the first season under Coach Kemper has ended for North Platte short of a postseason win, it accomplished a great deal opposed to what has occurred in recent years. The last time the Panthers finished with more than seven wins or had a winning record was 2015 as they have combined for 11 total wins in the three seasons prior to this one.
“We did accomplish a lot this year: we finished sixth in conference, we had more than six wins and we gave up less than 63.8 points a game on defense – which is what we gave up last year. We beat all our goals that we set, but now we want a little bit more,” Kemper said.
With a season that has more total victories than recent years, a pair of conference wins and a rare tournament plaque that North Platte earned in the Osborn Invitational, the Panthers have made a step in the right direction to turn the program around. Coach Kemper told the Platte County Citizen that he was grateful for the North Platte community that welcomed in a young, first-time head coach to help support him throughout the season.
“I had a really good community backing me up: I had really good parents and players helping me out, I had a great assistant coach who has been around for awhile who was able to give me the ins and outs, and also had great support with my parents. I just had a great support system and my players bought in completely, so that’s all you can ever ask for in your first year,” Kemper said.