West Platte senior Cohen Kite shoots a 3-pointer against Mid-Buchanan on Jan. 19.
FAUCETT – The KCI Conference continues to have battles throughout the season with the most recent matchup between the West Platte boys’ basketball team (8-6) and Mid-Buchanan (9-5) not being an exception.
The Blue Jays and Dragons know each other well, having met seven times in Tyler Funk’s 3-year tenure at West Platte. With Mid-Buchanan coming out on top on Jan. 19, it officially became the fifth straight time in the series that a team failed to win two in a row.
Since West Platte snapped a 5-game losing skid against the foe – which went from 2019 to 2022 – the victor has changed in every matchup. The Blue Jays defeated the Dragons the last time they met in the 2022-23 season, but they fell short 52-43 this go-round.
The home team took control early with a 7-2 advantage, until Drake Montez beat the first quarter buzzer. The sophomore guard drilled a shot from the left corner in the final moments of the opening frame to put his team ahead 12-10.
West Platte pushed the margin to 26-20 in the second quarter and was sitting in a good position in a tough environment. Mid-Buchanan made some halftime adjustments to go back up 38-33 ahead of the fourth quarter and was able to hold on to secure a 52-43 triumph.
West Platte was coming off its first KCI Conference win of the season – a comfortable 67-45 win over Penney (6-7) on Jan. 5 – but now moves back under .500 in conference play, with two losses. Following the tough defeat, the Blue Jays had a late game in the first round of the North Platte Invitational Tournament on Jan. 22.
Since the first game of the night went into overtime, the rest of the contests didn’t start on scheduled time. West Platte’s matchup with St. Joseph Christian (13-2) was the final game of day one of the tournament and didn’t tip-off until almost 9 p.m.
The entire game was tight, and it went down to the wire, being tied at 57 with 3:47 remaining. After some fast-paced transition chances without any buckets, the Lions got open for three and drilled it to retake the lead.
Miles McHenry scored seven straight points for the Blue Jays and there were four lead changes in the final 1:06. With the game tied at 63, Cohen Kite had two looks downlow missing both and McHenry cleaned it up with a layup and the foul.
The senior bigman knocked down the free throw, giving him 22 points, and more importantly a 3-point lead with 14.2 seconds left. West Platte decided to take the fouling route to send St. Joe Christian to the line three times in the last nine seconds and only two of the six attempts were made.
Jaxon Davis shot 2-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final 7.7 seconds to help West Platte hold off to beat one of the hottest teams in Class 2, 68-65. Kite finished with 17 points and Montez added nine points to snap the Lions nine game winning streak.
The Blue Jays moved one game closer to the championship, which they won last season. West Platte will play in the semifinals on Jan. 25 at 5:45 p.m.