Platte County senior Connor Currence scored seven points in the first quarter of the Pirates’ 70-59 win over Kansas City East Christian in the Grain Valley Tournament on Jan. 26.
GRAIN VALLEY – Since 2020, the Platte County boys’ basketball team (10-8) has won its final game of the Grain Valley Invitational and that didn’t change this year.
Like other tournaments this season, this one had pool play so Platte County was locked in with three specific opponents regardless of the results. The Pirates lost their first two games before bouncing back against Kansas City’s East Christian (17-10) on Jan. 26.
Judah Vignery scored 26 of the 40 Platte County points in the 15-point loss to Blue Springs South (12-8) on Jan. 22. Anthony Morrison knocked down a pair of triples and scored 10 points.
For the fourth time since 2019, Platte County matched up with Fort Osage (6-10) in the tournament. Unlike the last two meetings, the Pirates fell short this time, losing 81-60 on Jan. 23.
Vignery once again led the Pirates’ offense, tallying 17 points and had one of the team’s two steals. Jaden Peterson had 13 points and Hayden Schultz had seven points.
In the final game of the tournament, Platte County had a high-scoring first quarter led by Connor Currence with seven of the 22 points in the opening eight minutes. The Pirates led by 10 ahead of the second period but that was the largest lead until Brady Wetzel made a driving layup to make the score 32-20 with 2:37 left.
Peterson scored his 12th point of the night with a bucket in the final 30 seconds and the Pirates led 34-26 ahead of the second half. Peterson kept it rolling in the second half, scoring nine of Platte County’s 13 third quarter points but East Christian brought the game within two points.
Vignery opened the fourth quarter with a transition bucket and Isaac Dittrick sank a shot from behind the arc to regain momentum. The Lions fought back to 59-56 with 3:13 remaining but Vignery took over, scoring seven points late.
Platte County went on to win 70-59 to end the Grain Valley Tournament on a high note. Next up for the Pirates is a home game against St. Joseph’s Central (7-12) on Feb. 2.