DEARBORN – Facing its first losing skid of the season, the North Platte boys’ basketball team (12-4) turned three straight losses into four consecutive wins.
The Panthers were supposed to play in The WildCard Invitational – which they were the champions of a season ago – but that tournament got cancelled due to inclement weather, so they picked up a game against St. Pius X (6-6) on Jan. 10. This was a potential postseason preview as both squads are in the same district, and the Warriors came out on top, 77-63.
That was North Platte’s third continuous defeat following an 8-1 start, which sparked the second 4-game winning streak of the season. The first of the four victories came against North Andrew (3-11) by a score of 74-62 on Jan. 16.
North Andrew trailed by 10 points ahead of the fourth quarter, before chipping the margin down to 56-54 with right over four minutes remaining in the game. North Platte called a timeout and Brenden Matt hit a clutch shot from downtown.
With the scoreboard reading 61-59 just over two minutes left, Creek Johnson scored five straight points, followed by three in a row by Dylan Armstrong – who ended with 15 points. Johnson put the game away with a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left, giving him 25 points on the night.
The first half wasn’t as close as North Platte went up 9-2 in the opening minutes before North Andrew scored five straight. The Cardinals took a brief lead with 1:24 on the first quarter clock, before Westin Snook and Hudson Buckler made back-to-back layups to tie the game at 19.
North Andrew made a free throw with 2.1 seconds left and after the second one missed, Brenden Matt sunk a half-court heave with one hand, but the basket was waived off. The Panthers opened the second period on an 8-2 run and Snook hit a three with 18 seconds left to push the lead to 38-29.
Next up, North Platte took on Lone Jack (6-6) in a game that was supposed to happen much earlier but was postponed since there were some unavailable players during the football team’s state run. The Panthers never trailed, scored the first 10 points and Matt had 15 first half points as they cruised to a 62-38 triumph on Jan. 18.
Braydn Kemper moved to 3-0 as a head coach against Penney (6-7) when North Platte prevailed 60-47 on Jan. 19. This was another one that the Panthers took control of early and sat on a lead as they were up 19-9 after eight minutes of play, thanks to seven points by Hunter Palmer.
The Hornets nearly came back from double digits late, making the score 52-47 with 2:17 left. The Panthers scored the final eight points to move to 2-1 in KCI Conference play.
The North Platte Invitational Tournament is officially underway, and the Panthers moved to the right side of the bracket for the first time since 2016 when they won it all. North Platte defeated Polo (4-7) 73-49 and will play in the semifinals on Jan. 25 at 8:30 p.m.