Rick Hodge called his final timeout to draw up one final play with 5.4 seconds left for the Platte County boys’ basketball team (8-18) – who trailed 61-60 to Van Horn (10-17) – to have a chance to advance past the opening round of the Class 5 District 8 Tournament on March 1.
Platte County senior Boston Wahlert (#15) goes up for a layup in the first quarter of the Class 5 District 8 first-round matchup with Van Horn when the Pirates lost 61-60 on March 1.
In a game that the Pirates trailed by double figures throughout, Chandavian Bradley had a chance to be the hero and snap their 6-game losing skid just in time for a postseason run. The senior took a contested turnaround jumper, the shot was no good, and the game came to an end with the No. 5 seed eliminated by the No. 4 seed.
This was an uncharacteristic season for Platte County who finished with its least amount of wins since 2019, along with this being the first postseason not playing in the district semifinals since 2016. The Pirates lost some close games down the stretch as three of their last seven games were decided by exactly one point.
In the postseason contest against Van Horn, Platte County fell behind early. After four ties and six lead changes in the first five minutes, the Falcons closed out the opening frame on a 13-4 run.
Trevor Redding knocked down back-to-back jumpers in the opening minutes to score four of the first seven Platte County points, but Van Horn’s Za’Corrie Kerr caught fire from deep. The junior guard sank three shots from behind the arc after Judah Vignery tied the game at nine.
The Falcons took a 22-13 advantage into the second quarter after Damien Page stole a pass from Parker Amos and went the other direction to beat the buzzer with a fast break layup. Van Horn slightly extended the lead in the second quarter to go up 42-29 at halftime.
Platte County senior Judah Vignery had 17 points in his final high school game on March 1.
Vignery brought the game to 56-46 late in the third quarter with a pair of triples, but Van Horn responded with a 3-point play on the other end to take a 13-point lead with eight minutes left in the contest. However, the Pirates refused to go down without a fight and made a fourth quarter comeback bid.
Connor Currence made two straight trips to the charity stripe – splitting them both – and the Falcons’ lead was cut to 61-54 with less than three minutes to play. Bradley converted on a bucket, Redding split a pair of free throws and the score was 61-57 with 1:17 on the clock, but the Pirates were leaving points out there as they had missed four shots from the charity stripe in the previous two minutes.
With under a minute to play, Vignery added to the free throw woes as the senior split a pair. Bradley followed that with a shot from the right block to bring the game to 61-60 with 42 seconds left, and there wasn’t another point scored for either team the rest of the way.
Christian Neely missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw to allow Platte County to regain possession and have one last chance. The Pirates rebounded the miss and called a timeout with 11.4 seconds left, but a chaotic sequence – that was nearly a Platte County turnover – led to Neely having possession of the ball out-of-bounds with 5.4 seconds on the clock and the No. 4 seed called one final timeout to regroup before ultimately coming up short and having its season come to an end.
The Pirates will say farewell to five seniors, including Bradley who has been a starter each of the last two years and led the team in every statistic category other than assists this winter. Vignery, Amos and Boston Wahlert came off the bench last season and took on larger roles this year and Kai Oates is the other Platte County senior.