Platte County pushes way to victory despite late struggles in GVI 5th-place game

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. — The opportunity came to fade away and end up with another disappointing result.

Platte County didn’t quit, even in the midst of an increasingly difficult rebuilding season. Instead, the Pirates recovered and came up with a series of hustle plays late to rescue a 59-54 victory over Fort Osage on Friday night while salvaging the finale of three games in the Grain Valley Invitational this past weekend. The Indians didn’t lead until the fourth quarter of the fifth-place game after fully erasing a once-imposing 17-point deficit from the earlygoing.

While junior guard Jordan Moore led the way on offense from start to finish, Platte County junior forward Brock Dye epitomized an inspired effort with five offensive rebounds — the last coming late during mixed results at the free throw line with the result still hanging in the balance.

“I think that was a great team win. We had everyone piecing things together,” said Moore, who scored 23 points.

Dye added 12 points — eight in the second half — and played a key part in keeping Platte County from losing the lead even earlier.

Fort Osage senior guard Dom Soto leveled the score at 34-34 in the final minute of the third quarter with one of his six 3-pointers. At the other end, Dye drew a foul on a drive to the basket and hit a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds on the clock. The Indians immediately threw away the inbounds pass, and Dye drew a foul while trying to free himself on the ensuing deadball play.

Dye hit another to put Platte County up 37-34 going into what turned out to be an entertaining final 8 minutes.

“We always come out hot it feels like and then we let up in the second half, which kind of is what happened tonight, but we stuck it out and got the dub,” Moore said.

Fort Osage opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to go in front for the first time.

Platte County (4-13) didn’t blink despite coming into the matchup on a five-game losing streak and having lost 12 of the previous 13 overall. The Pirates leveled the score at 42-42 on a 3-pointer from senior point guard Jayden Martin, the lone returning starter from last season who was limited to just five points total.

Fort Osage led for the final time at 46-43, but Platte County responded with a tough baseline drive and score for junior Jude Brown (seven points) and a steal and layup for Moore. The next big moment came when Dye tipped out an offensive rebound to junior guard Jacoby Keith for a 3-pointer that pushed the Pirates’ lead to 52-48.

“I don’t think we get that win without Brock,” Moore said. “That’s big for sure. He’s been stepping up a lot these past couple of games.”

Fort Osage answered with a three-point play from junior guard Kobe Baker for the last of his 15 points. The Indians created a turnover, but Martin chased the play down for a blocked shot from behind that maintained the slim one-point advantage.

Moore maintained the momentum with a three-point play at the other end, negating Soto’s final 3 with 29.2 seconds left.

Platte County held on from there with junior Isaac Nelson splitting two free throws for his only point ahead of a Fort Osage turnover. The Pirates went 4 of 8 at the line in the last half minute and needed Soto’s missed 3 after Keith, who totaled 11 points, missed a pair with the lead at 56-44.

Martin also split two free throws with 8.8 left, but Dye tapped out the rebound on the missed second to Keith, who iced the win with a pair of makes sandwiched around Platte County’s final timeout.

“Step by step, slowly, but I see us getting better through the season,” Moore said.

Coming in off of pool losses to KC East and Grain Valley, Platte County came out with a needed fast start. Moore and Keith drained 3-pointers on the Pirates’ first two possessions, and the lead eventually hit 19-2 late in the first quarter.

Moore scored nine in the stretch, while Keith added two of his three 3-pointers.

Fort Osage ended a lengthy drought in the final minute of the first quarter on the first 3 for Soto, who finished with a game-high 24 points. The Indians trailed 19-5 but ended up scoring 12 unanswered with the initial run needed to close the gap.

Platte County struggled at times to handle pressure defense, committing turnovers that sped up the pace of play in a tournament game that featured a 35-second shot clock.

“I think that’s on us for sure,” Moore said. “They didn’t do anything that we weren’t ready for. You could say they sped us up, but I think we were just shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Platte County took a timeout with 3:48 left before halftime, and Brown scored out of the break for the Pirates’ points of the second quarter. A three-point play from Moore capped six unanswered to push the advantage back to double digits.

Fort Osage went back down 13 but went into the break down 27-17 after Baker hit a late 3-pointer.

Moore scored the first four points of the third quarter before another lengthy cold stretch allowed Soto and Baker to eventually create the tie at 34-34 and set up the tight finish between two teams set for a quick rematch. Martin made the all-tournament team after finishing in double-figure scoring in both of the pool losses.

Platte County travels to Independence for a Suburban Conference White Division matchup with Fort Osage on Tuesday night. The teams will play three times for a second straight season. In 2024-25, the Pirates also won a meeting in the Grain Valley Invitational but then lost both conference matchups in the closing stretch of the regular season.

All four of Platte County’s wins this season have come in tournament play — two in the season-opening Savannah Invitational and another in the fifth-place game of Kearney’s Bulldog Classic before ending the recent losing skid against Fort Osage on Friday night.

Grain Valley 64, Platte County 32

In the second matchup between the two teams in a span of a week, the Eagles used a script eerily similar to a previous win.

Grain Valley again pulled away in a dominant start to the second half in a barrage of 3-pointers spread between four different players Thursday night at Grain Valley High School. The Eagles led just 28-24 going into halftime, but junior guard Hudson Hughes hit three shots from beyond the arc in the third quarter and another in the fourth to finish with 14 points.

After putting up a game-high 29 in the previous week’s 58-29 win over Platte County, Grain Valley senior guard Eli Herbert ended up with 13 on Thursday. He hit one of the Eagles’ six total 3s in the third quarter with senior guards Anthony Juarez and Brady Gocke adding one apiece.

Eight 3-pointers total for Platte County accounted for all 24 first-half points. Keith and Martin hit three apiece with Moore adding two. The Pirates made only two shots from the floor after halftime with one a late 3 for sophomore Sam Smith with the reserves in late while facing the insurmountable deficit.

Martin totaled a team-high 11 points, while Keith finished with nine — all in the first quarter.

Brown (two points) and senior forward Bryton Bertram (one point) rounded out Platte County’s scorers. Bertram did not play for the Pirates on Friday.

KC East 53, Platte County 50

The Pirates couldn’t recover from a slow start, struggling to score from the field in a pool loss Monday night at Grain Valley High School.

Martin finished with a team-high 17 points but needed to go 9 of 12 on free throws to reach that total. Platte County finished 17-for-22 overall at the line with five of 14 made field goals coming from 3-point territory. Keith (13 points) and Martin led the Pirates with two apiece.

East held a 31-21 halftime lead and held on with Moore going scoreless in both the second and third quarters. He finished with nine points, while Brown added four, junior Elijah Hockaday three and sophomore MaCallen McMillian two in the loss.