After falling to Blue Springs (11-3) in the 2022 Bulldog Classic Semifinals, the Platte County boys’ basketball team (9-2) bounced back to defeat St. Joseph’s Lafayette (9-5) 64-55 to give the Pirates a third-place tourney finish on Jan. 14.
Platte County senior Jarett Mueller, above, scored 19 points and made five 3-pointers in the Pirates 64-55 win over Lafayette in the 2022 Bulldog Classic Third Place Game on Jan. 14.
The Pirates received a first-round bye in the tournament with De LaSalle cancelling, so their first game came up against a Blue Springs team who had won four of its last five games on Jan. 13. The Wildcats took an early lead over the Pirates and progressively added to it as Blue Springs led 60-42 at the end of the third quarter before Platte County made a late comeback.
“We started to do more defensive traps and getting into the paint and getting layups,” Platte County head coach Rick Hodges said. “The thing I’m most proud about was that the kids didn’t quit; they kept battling and that’s what I like about this group, they aren’t going to back down from any of those teams.”
Platte County fought back to make it a close game late but were unable to pull off the 18-point comeback in the final eight minutes. Isaac Havemeier had an impressive outing, scoring 17 points and grabbing six rebounds; Jarett Mueller ended with 15 points and Chandavian Bradley added 12 points and four steals.
“I told them after the game, there are a lot of positives to take from that. The thing is that a loss can be good if you can learn from it – I believe that game prepared us for today and being able to deal with the athleticism and pressure,” Hodges said after the Lafayette game on Jan. 14.
In the third-place game, Platte County took a 21-13 lead after one quarter of play and held on to that lead for the remainder of the game, never trailing. There were multiple times the Fighting Irish chipped at the lead but was unable to take it – such as when the deficit was brought to within three points in the final minute of the first half and Judah Vignery knocked down a 3-pointer with less than five seconds left to give the Pirates a 36-30 lead at the break.
“That’s the difference between a good team and a great team. Good teams will go into those lolls and let teams back in, but great teams don’t do that,” Hodges said.
In the second half, Platte County continued to clinch a lead over Lafayette but every time the Pirates looked like they were going to pull away, the Fighting Irish made a run. Platte County led by eight points at the end of the third quarter and increased the lead to 12 points in the final frame, but Lafayette brought the game within seven points in the closing minutes.
“The kids did a good job of valuing possessions a little bit more when they made their runs. When they did get close, we would get a little more focused and dialed in and run the offense like we should and get higher percentage shots,” Hodges said.
Mueller shot the ball well as the Platte County guard converted on five of his eight shot attempts from behind the arc, giving him 19 points on the night, while Bradley stuffed the stat sheet when the junior ended with 23 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals as the Pirate duo were selected to the all-tournament team. Platte County’s next contest will be on the road against Smithville (9-4) on Jan. 21.