Platte County misses late chances to close Savannah Invitational with comeback win

The inbounds play found the right player in the right spot for the right look.

Platte County senior forward Chandavian Bradley — the lone returning starter for an otherwise inexperienced roster — absorbed a series of hard contact as he took a shot from the left block with under 5 seconds left in Saturday’s Savannah Invitational fifth-place game. However, Benton’s foul prevented him putting up a good attempt and forced him to the free throw line.

Bradley put up a pair of good shots but both agonizingly bounced around and rolled off the rim, and time ran out on a 55-54 win for Benton at Savannah High School. He led Platte County with a game-high 19 points but with a disappointing finish to an otherwise stellar three-game stretch to open the season.

“He’s been shooting free throws well this week, but he didn’t shoot them very well today as a whole,” Platte County coach Rick Hodge said. “But I also told the kids it shouldn’t have come down to that. Based on the mistakes we made throughout the game, he shouldn’t have been put in that position to begin with. But he’ll probably be in that position again down the road, and he’s the guys we’ll want at the foul line to knock them down and we think he’ll knock them down in the future.”

The late free throws capped a chaotic final sequence that saw Benton nearly give away a once-comfortable lead.

Platte County made the battle back more difficult than necessary, but senior point guard Boston Wahlert’s back-to-back 3s capped an 8-2 run to draw the Pirates within 51-48 with 3 minutes, 31 seconds to play. The Cardinals were able to maintain the advantage and eventually forced a chase-and-foul scenario.

However, patience from Platte County’s defense eventually forced up a rushed shot that proved costly. Pirates junior forward Judah Vignery countered with a driving layup while drawing a foul that turned into a three-point play to trim the deficit to 53-52 with a minute left.

“We want (Judah and Boston) to attack the rim. That’s what we want,” Hodge said. “We keep talking to all of them — not just Chandavian but all of them — about attacking the rim. That’s the type of team we want to be, but I also feel like there has to be more movement when the ball is not in your hands. Instead of standing watching these drivers, are we cutting? Are we relocating? Are we getting the offensive rebounds we need when other guys are driving it?

“Judah’s done a better job of attacking the rim, and we are happy to see that.”

Then came the real tense moments.

Benton junior Carson Schmidt, who scored 10 points, missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the Cardinals corralled the miss. Schmidt then received a return trip to the line and sank a pair to make it a three-point lead with 19.6 seconds on the clock.

Instead of forcing Platte County to play out a possession, Benton fouled Wahlert, who hit two free throws for what ended up the game’s final points.

Platte County forced a turnover on the ensuring inbounds possession near midcourt but immediately gave the ball back while trying to rush a pass up the court. The Cardinals were then called for a travel setting up an inbound splay under the Pirates’ basket.

Down 55-54 and with a chance to draw up a winning play, Hodge called timeout and set up screening action for Bradley to come open on the opposite side of the basket. The design worked, but Bradley’s misses left him visibly upset at the outcome.

“Because of the lead they had late in the fourth quarter, the kids kept battling, especially on the defensive end pressuring the guys we needed to,” Hodge said. “There were a couple of times we didn’t foul the people we wanted to, but they were still pressuring the ball. We still got what we needed on the defensive end, but the offensive rebound we gave up on the free throw really hurt us, but we were still in it at the wire.

“The good thing about it was seeing them compete to the final horn and making a little bit of a comeback.”

Platte County led 18-15 after the first quarter with Bradley scoring seven, while Vignery, who finished with 13 points, and senior Parker Amos added five apiece. The Pirates would continue to lead through the first half with sophomore reserve forward Jaden Peterson draining a 3 with around 30 seconds left before halftime for his only points.

However, Benton came down with junior Zach Smith burying a deep 3 at the buzzer to make it 31-27 at the break.

“They’ve got some guys that can shoot it, and a lot of times we weren’t up on the guys that we needed to be up on,” Hodge said. “And they made us pay when we didn’t. When we were slow rotating over or getting out on shooters, they shot the ball well tonight on 3s.”

Platte County’s problems in the second half started with both Bradley and Vignery picking up their third fouls fairly early in the third quarter, forcing Hodge to carefully handle his top two scoring options. Amos also went down with an unspecified injury and missed the rest of the game, finishing with just five points.

Three times Platte County pushed the halftime lead out to a bigger number — most notably in the opening seconds of the third quarter on a steal and breakaway two-handed dunk from Bradley. However, Benton responded by hitting five of seven total 3-pointers in the second half.

The hot shooting sparked a 10-0 run that included a pair of 3s, the second from Benton freshman Lincoln Goodwin, turned a 37-30 deficit into a 40-37 lead.

“(The foul trouble) affects the rotations a little bit,” Hodge said. “You’re starting to get deeper, and we’re not a very deep team right now anyway. The other thing that was disappointing was we went zone there at the end of the third because of the foul trouble, and we felt like we had to protect some people or at least try to get to the fourth quarter. Give Benton credit. They stuck two 3s against the zone.”

Vignery finally stopped the scoring drought with a split of two free throws, but Goodwin answered with another 3 rolled in from deep.

Bradley then missed a free throw that would have completed a three-point play and misfired on a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer that left Platte County down 43-40. Benton’s final two 3s came in the opening minute of the fourth quarter from Smith and junior Talan McDowell, but the Cardinals would not get the lead to double digits, going more than 3 1/2 minutes without another point.

Wahlert scored eight of his 12 in the fourth quarter, but Platte County only managed five points in Benton’s drought with the not-yet-cohesive roster still identifying roles. The Pirates brought only eight players to the tournament, and Bradley, Vignery, Amos and Wahlert provide the only substantial returning varsity minutes. They have been starting along with senior forward Trevor Redding, who scored four points in his third career start — all in the opening week of the season.

Platte County won the tournament each of the past two years but fell into the consolation bracket this season after losing eight key contributors over the past two accomplished seasons.

“It’s going to be a process,” Hodge said. “This season, throughout the season, it’s going to be a process. I keep telling the kids that. This isn’t our best basketball. It’s too early in the season. Other than Chandavian, how much real experience do we have coming back? There’s going to be growing pains along the way.

“But what it’s going to take is patience and togetherness and staying positive and believing in one another. That’s what it’s going to take.”

Incidentally, Platte County topped Benton in last year’s Savannah Invitational championship game, and due to a quirk in the schedule both last season and this season, the teams immediately rematch. The Pirates travel to St. Joseph on Tuesday night with a chance to avenge the loss just three days later.

Platte County 72, Savannah 41

The Pirates pulled away from the hosts in Thursday’s consolation semifinal matchup, blowing the game open behind a trio of double-digit scorers.

All eight Platte County players contributed at least three points, but Bradley led the way with 18 — 16 coming in the first three quarters. The Pirates outscored Savannah 33-17 in the second half. Redding put up six of his nine after halftime, and junior reserve guard Connor Currence added a third quarter 3.

Vignery tallied all 14 of his points in the first half, while Wahlert mostly spread out his 15. Peterson hit a 3 and scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter, while Amos and senior reserve forward Kai Oates contributed three points apiece.

Maryville 83, Platte County 73

The Pirates came up on the wrong end of a two-team offensive display in Tuesday’s first round matchup with a former Midland Empire Conference rival.

Maryville stuck 14 3-pointers total — half from sophomore guard Peyton McCollum, son of Northwest Missouri State national champion men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum. Peyton McCollum contributed three during a 29-point third quarter that turned a 36-31 halftime deficit into a 60-54 lead.

Bradley poured in a game-high 33 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Peterson added three more 3s and 13 points, and Platte County hit eight total but couldn’t keep pace in the second half. The Pirates also had 11 points from Wahlert — six in the fourth quarter while trying to chip away at Maryville’s lead — and nine from Vignery.

Peyton McCollum finished with 25 points junior Derek Quinlin added 17 with four more 3s. The Spoofhounds pulled away late with Vignery fouling out.