Platte County senior Jarett Mueller, above, was the Pirates leading scorer on Dec. 4.
For the second straight season and third time since 2017, the Platte County boys’ basketball team (3-0) won the Savannah Tournament.
The Pirates took down Chillicothe and Maryville in the first two rounds of the 93rd Annual Savannah Invitational to advance to the championship game against Benton (3-1). Platte County took care of business, never trailed after the opening quarter and defeated the Cardinals 71-57 on Dec. 4.
“It’s great, but it’s not so much about the win but more about us coming together as a team and developing early in the season,” Platte County head coach Rick Hodge said. “We needed this game tonight; we needed the pressure that they gave us, and we needed to make the decisions that we needed to offensively and defensively.”
In an intense championship contest, Benton started the game with a 4-0 lead but was called for a technical foul in the opening minute for taunting. Although Platte County missed both free throw attempts, a Jace Trimble jumper with 7:12 remaining was followed by a Chandavian Bradley fast break dunk to spark a 20-5 run.
“We draw energy from a lot of different areas, our guys just like playing with one another. We feed off each other well and you can see it with the way they played in that first quarter,” Hodge said.
The Pirates led by 11 points in the final minute before Benton knocked down a 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds and the Cardinals trailed 20-12 after the first quarter. The second quarter was similar to the opening period - Benton scored the opening five points of the quarter before Platte County responded with a 9-2 run and the Cardinals made a deep-2 at the halftime buzzer – with the Pirates heading into the locker room with a 29-21 lead.
“We have veteran guards who have been in these types of situations all of last season who are used to playing in games like this. I have to keep reminding myself to not overcoach them and just let them play,” Hodge said.
Benton came out of the break firing on all cylinders when they knocked down three treys, including a 4-point play with 40 seconds remaining. Jace Trimble scored four points in the third quarter and Boston Wahlert scored a layup off an assist from Brody Fulk shortly before the period ended to give the Pirates a 44-35 margin.
Bradley was called for a technical foul with 5:23 remaining and Benton sunk a pair of free throws to narrow the deficit 49-42. Platte County called a timeout and Jarrett Mueller took over, scoring nine straight points to give the Pirates a 15-point lead - starting with a 3-point play and followed by three consecutive trips to the charity stripe where he made all six attempts.
“He’s a leader who loves playing in these moments. That’s not something you can teach or coach, you either have it or you don’t, and he is that type of player,” Hodge said.
Mueller scored 11 of his 22 points in the final quarter to help his case for the all-tournament team, where he was joined by Bradley. Trimble dropped 20 points, including 13 points in the second half, and Isaac Havemeier ended with 11 points.
Benton made a late comeback attempt, but Trimble sealed the game when he was fouled as he banked in a runner from the left side and knocked down a free throw with 1:08 left. Platte County will take on Benton again in its next contest on Dec. 7.