Panthers end West Platte’s season in districts
A strong second half performance led to North Platte boys basketball ending West Platte’s season 66-53 in the Class 3 District 15 Tournament on Monday night.
Heading into Monday night’s contest in the Gower, the two schools had faced threes times prior. North Platte had won the two most recent matchups, but West Platte was able to give the team from Dearborn a fight in the last contest, falling by just four points back in late January in the Panthers’ home tournament.
Both teams traded blows throughout the course of the first half. West Platte was able to match the offensive firepower of the Panthers, jumping out to an early 9-3 lead and keeping pace throughout the second quarter.
North Platte junior Brenden Matt became a pivotal piece of the Panthers’ ability to keep pace with the Blue Jays in the first half. After being assessed a warning from the referee early in the first quarter for not having his jersey tucked in, Matt would find his offensive groove. Matt did a large chunk of damage on offense in the first half, scoring 16 of his game-high 24 points in the first 16 minutes of action.
Out of the halftime break, the West Platte offense went awry. The Blue Jays would go scoreless until the 3:35 mark of the third quarter, while the Panther offense seamlessly translated from half to half.
With the win, the Panthers set themselves up for a marquee rematch against top-seeded East Buchanan on Wednesday. The two teams met last week for the KCI Conference regular season title, in which the Bulldogs prevailed 70-61.
