Platte County senior guard Judah Vignery (#10) scored 31 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc in the Pirates’ 62-52 win over St. Joseph’s Lafayette in the first round of the Kearney Tournament on Jan. 10.
KEARNEY – Despite losing two of its three games in the tournament, Platte County (7-6) walked away from the Kearney Boys’ Basketball Tournament with a second-place finish.
The tournament had the first two rounds of pool play and after the first two rounds were complete, the championship teams were decided on total points. So, Platte County won its first game and lost its second game but was still able to play in the championship.
All three contests in the tournament were against opponents the Pirates had already played this season and all three rematches had the same result. For the first time since the 2021-22 season, Platte County took down St. Joseph’s Lafayette (6-8) in back-to-back matchups – winning 62-53 at home on Dec. 11 and 62-52 in the Kearney Tournament on Jan. 10.
Judah Vignery was huge on the night, dropping a game-high 31 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from downtown. The first quarter was back-and-forth with Vignery scoring the final bucket – and converting the free throw after being fouled – but the Pirates trailed 12-10.
Anthony Morrison drilled a 3-pointer in the opening minute and after the Irish responded, Vignery scored the final 10 Pirate points of the first half, and they led the rest of the way. Lafayette tied the game at 34 with 29 seconds left in the third quarter, but Morrison knocked down his second shot from behind the arc and Vignery sank two free throws to regain momentum.
Jaden Peterson made some plays late to help Platte County close out the contest as the junior tallied 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe and made all three of his shots from the field. Morrison added nine points, whereas Archie Wesley and Brady Wetzel both scored four points.
Platte County took on Smithville (7-6) in the next round of pool play and lost 62-55 on Jan. 12. Vignery had his second double-double of the season, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
In the first two games of the tournament, Smithville scored 117 points and Platte County scored 120 points as the Pirates barely earned a spot in the championship game against Kearney (8-6) on Jan. 13. The game was tied at 13 after one quarter of play but the Bulldogs slowly pulled away to come out on top, 50-43, for their second win over the Pirates this year.