West Platte senior Cohen Kite drives into a trio of Platte Valley defenders in the second round of the North Platte Invitational Tournament on Jan. 25.
DEARBORN - One season after meeting in the North Platte Boys’ Invitational Basketball Tournament Championship, the West Platte boys’ basketball team (8-8) fell to Platte Valley (16-1) in the semifinals on Jan. 25.
West Platte has been without point guard Jonah McGivern since late December and has gone 2-4 in his absence, including 1-2 in the North Platte Invitational. Platte Valley went on to win the tournament after a large second half in the semifinals.
The Blue Jays led the entire game until right under six minutes left in the third period. After fighting back to tie the game at 32, Platte Valley scored nine straight points to force a West Platte timeout with 4:09 on the third quarter clock.
“When you play championship level teams, which they are as the number two team in Class 1 and made the Final Four last year, the margin for error is just very low,” West Platte head boys’ basketball coach Tyler Funk said. “In the fourth I believe we cut it to two or three so it shows a lot of resiliency on our part to get that back into a one possession game.”
Following the timeout, the Blue Jays closed out the frame on a 9-4 run starting with a layup by Miles McHenry and a 3-pointer by Westin Sinclair. Gunner Smith beat the buzzer to cut the deficit to 45-41.
Drake Montez knocked down a triple from the left wing with 6:25 – cutting the deficit to 47-44 – but that was the last field goal West Platte scored. McHenry made a free throw before Platte Valley scored again, but the eventual champions scored the final 13 points to win 60-45.
“There was a three or four minute stretch where we really struggled to break their pressure and that was kind of the key to the game – just our turnovers. I liked our chances, but we battled, and I’ll be interested to watch it back and learn from it, just like the guys will, and I’m excited to see how we respond,” Funk said.
West Platte set the tone early, scoring the first six points and led 14-11 behind a pair of triples by Kane Cogan, who went on to lead the team with 15 points. The Blue Jays led by as much as seven in each of the first two quarters and Jaxon Davis beat the halftime buzzer to put them ahead 28-24.
“We got some layups early and they kind of stopped the pressure a little bit but then they started out the second half with a lot of pressure. We just didn’t sustain it for the full game, so we’re right there, we can hang with the best, we just have to find the winning plays and the winning adjustments,” Funk said.
In the third-place game, West Platte matched up with North Platte (13-5) for the third time this season and lost by 15 points on Jan. 27. The Blue Jays will host Gallatin (8-7) on Feb. 1.