West Platte got a balanced offensive attack to defeat Carrollton, 63-51, in the third-place game of the Lawson Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 18 in Lawson.
The Bluejays scored 16 points in each of the first two quarters and held a seven-point lead. The best offensive quarter for West Platte followed with 17 points in the third, eight coming from Phillip Pattison.
In the fourth quarter, West Platte was sent to the free-throw line 10 times and hit six shots to ice the win. Miles DeMayo and Xavier Reynolds each scored 15 points, while Pattison had 14. Reynolds made four 3s and DeMayo hit three.
Gallatin boys 50, West Platte 47
The Bulldogs held off a fourth-quarter surge from the Bluejays to win the semifinal on Thursday, Jan. 16 in the Lawson Invitational.
West Platte led at halftime, 21-19, but faced a 35-28 deficit after a pair of Bulldogs got hot in the third quarter. Isaac Bird hit a pair of 3s and scored eight of his team-high 17 points, while JJ Waters added six points.
The Bluejays were limited to only two baskets in the third. In the fourth, they got hot and tallied 19 points but couldn’t close the gap. Phillip Pattison accounted for nine of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. Miles DeMayo added 10 points, five coming in the fourth quarter.
Lawson boys 66, North Platte 41
The Panthers dropped a third straight game and were bounced from the tournament with a loss on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
The host Cardinals held a double-digit lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Max Trout hit three 3-pointers and outscored North Platte by one – 11 to 10 – to help the Cardinals take a 23-10 lead. North Platte got five points from Cameron Leupold in the second and trimmed the deficit down to 32-24 at halftime.
Lawson led by nine heading into the fourth before scoring 19 points and giving up only three to secure the win – the 18th straight against North Platte.
Grady Blair and Emmett LaFleur scored 10 each to pace Lawson’s offense.
Senior Joel Smyser scored 11, all in the first half, to lead North Platte’s offense. Leupold also got in double figures, scoring 10.
West Platte boys 76, Trenton 33
The Bluejays won a third straight game, this time dismantling the Bulldogs in the opening round of the Lawson Invitational on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
The teams were tied at 13 after the first quarter, but West Platte nudged ahead 30-24 at halftime behind six points from Miles DeMayo in the second quarter.
The game turned in a hurry for West Platte (7-4) when it scored 30 points in the third quarter. DeMayo had four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points in the quarter, while Brayden Cogan added nine points in the quarter.
Trenton (2-10) was limited to only four field goals in the second half.
Four players finished scoring in double figures for the Bluejays, led by DeMayo’s 20. Cogan had 13, followed by 12 from Mason Montez and Xavier Reynolds added 10.
Richmond boys 79, North Platte 48
The Spartans scored 40 points in the first half and rolled to a win in the opening round of the Lawson Invitational on Monday, Jan. 13.
North Platte faced a 12-5 deficit after the first quarter but gave up 28 points in the second quarter. Ten different players scored for Richmond, but only two of them had more than one basket. Keyshaun Elliott had seven points.
Down 40-15 at halftime, the Panthers posted their best quarter in the third by scoring 19. Caine Huffman and Andrew Hernandez both had four points, but the deficit remained the same as Richmond also scored 19 points.
Hernandez and Jace Stubbs had nine points each to pace the offense for North Platte.
Four players scored in double figures for top-seeded Richmond, led by 17 from Elliott.