WESTON – It’s officially postseason time for the West Platte boys’ basketball team (13-9), which is one win away from its fourth consecutive district championship appearance.
West Platte head coach Tyler Funk helped his team earn the No. 2 seed in the Class 2 District 15 Tournament.
The last time West Platte has claimed a district title was 2014, although there have been some opportunities in recent years. Tyler Funk’s third season as head coach may have seen the least number of wins in any of the three seasons, but he still led his team to the No. 2 seed in the Class 2 District 15 Tournament.
The Blue Jays had some big wins this season to put them in a position where they have a first-round bye. This makes the road to a district championship easier, needing to just win one game opposed to two.
West Platte has beaten St. Joseph’s Christian (16-6) and Penney (8-14) this season and those two will play each other in the first round. The winner will meet up with the Blue Jays in the district semifinals on Feb. 22 at Plattsburg High School.
On the other side, Plattsburg (20-4) – the No. 5 MBCA ranked team in Class 2 – is the No. 1 seed, also receiving a first-round bye. The Tigers knocked the Blue Jays out of the postseason a year ago and was riding a 4-game winning streak in the series prior to meeting in the regular season finale on Feb. 13.
West Platte gave Plattsburg a run for its money in the only other matchup this season, which was in the championship game of the Bishop LeBlond Holiday Tournament in late December. The Tigers pulled away late in that one, 63-55.
That was the first game junior guard Jonah McGivern missed with an Achilles injury, followed by a 10-game absence. He was a starter averaging 5.9 points, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals and made his return on courtwarming.
West Platte fell short in that one, a 48-46 loss to East Buchanan (16-7) on Feb. 9. McGivern’s presence was felt as that matchup was significantly closer than the previous one, a 28-point route by the Bulldogs in the KCI Conference Tournament.
The Blue Jays had won five in a row before that conference loss, which was their best winning streak of the season. They were coming off a 53-51 victory over Lathrop (3-19) on Feb. 6, which put them at 3-2 in the KCI Conference at the time.