The Platte County Pirates’ basketball team heads into this week’s Kearney Invitational unbeaten on the season after two big conference wins last week over Ruskin and Raytown South.
The Pirates beat Ruskin 74-71 on Tuesday, Jan. 5, with a come-from-behind effort in the game’s final minute to seal the win.
DENNIS SHARKEY/Citizen photo
Platte County senior Joey Schultz was fired up after he delivered a slam dunk for the Pirates last week.
Platte County found themselves down 71-70 with under a minute left to play when they got a turnover. With 34 seconds left senior Joey Schultz scored to give the Pirates a 72-71 lead.
On the other end Schultz blocked a Ruskin shot off the glass with three seconds left. Senior Alex McClure grabbed the rebound and sank two free throws to seal the deal.
Pirates’ head coach Rick Hodge told the Platte County Citizen he was impressed by his team’s calmness and level of poise when it counted.
“They have also shown a tremendous amount of calmness in crucial situations that allowed them to finish a game like Ruskin the way we wanted to with proper execution,” Hodge said.
The first couple of weeks of the season the Pirates didn’t play with its full bench of players because of the deep run the football team had to the state championship game. Hodge said getting those players back provides size and toughness but it also allows him to change his matchups on the floor.
“It allows us to move players into different spots that either match up to our opponents or gives them trouble matching up to us,” Hodge said.
Hodge said he’s still looking at different scenarios of matchups through film and the stat sheets. He likes the way his team is playing now and he sees the chemistry developing on the court.
“They not only play well together, they are very good at playing off of each other,” Hodge said about his team.
Versus Raytown South on Thursday, Jan. 7, the Pirates trailed after one period 19-16 but controlled the pace the rest of the way to a 72-57 win. Against the Cardinals the team had four players in double figures led by Jaden Burnett who had 19 points and was 2 of 2 from three point range followed by Jace Trimble with 14 points, Schultz with 13 points and Jarett Mueller with 12 points. Schultz led the team with 11 rebounds and six assists. Trimble added eight rebounds and Mueller had six boards. Burnett had five assists.
Versus the Eagles the team again had four players in double figures scoring led by Mueller with 23 points including 5 of 8 from three point range followed by Schultz with 14 points and Burnett and Brody Fulk each had 13 points. Schultz led the team with seven rebounds while Fulk grabbed four boards.
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