For the second time this month, Platte County went 1-2 in a round-robin tournament with a place match. The Pirates salvaged the final game of the Grain Valley Invitational with a 70-59 victory over Kansas City East Christian on Friday afternoon at Grain Valley High School.
Platte County managed to avoid falling back to .500 for the first time since the second game of the season behind a game-high 29 points from senior Judah Vignery and placed fifth in the six-team field.
Entering off back-to-back losses to Blue Springs South and Fort Osage, Platte County (10-8) started fast and hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter — one each for Vignery, junior Jaden Peterson and seniors Connor Currence and Isaac Dittrick. However, the Pirates’ double-digit lead ended up down to 47-46 going to the fourth quarter.
Peterson carried Platte County through the third quarter, scoring nine of his 16 points, while Vignery poured in 14 in the final 8 minutes to help the Pirates pull away again.
Ditrrick ended up with three of Platte County’s seven 3-pointers to finish with nine points, while Currence accounted for all seven of his points in the first quarter. This marked his highest-scoring game since posting a career-high 14 in a December loss to Kearney. The Pirates received only seven bench points with junior Anthony Morrison totaling five and junior forwards Archie Wesley and Hayden Schultz adding one apiece.
Platte County has three times held a record of three games over .500 but has been 5-5 in the 2024 portion of the season. The Pirates have not won more than three straight at any point.
After a lengthy break, Platte County’s schedule shows a home game Friday against Central (St. Joseph) before returning to Suburban Conference White Division play next week with a home game against Grain Valley and a road game at William Chrisman.
Fort Osage 81, Platte County 60
The Indians blitzed to a 26-6 lead after the first quarter before playing generally even the rest of the way in a pool victory Tuesday evening at Grain Valley High School.
Vignery scored 17 points and Peterson added 13, but Platte County hit just one shot from the floor in the first eight minutes. Fort Osage countered with five of its eight 3-pointers in the first two quarters to build what ended up an insurmountable lead. Vignery finished with three 3-pointers and put up 10 points in the second quarter to help the Pirates prevent a complete blowout.
Platte County ended up with 10 3-pointers total, including one for Peterson, two for senior Jacob Isaacson (career-high six points) and one more each for Schultz (career-high seven points), Morrison (three points), senior guard Brady Wetzel (three points) and sophomore Braiden Stevens (three points). The Pirates went deep into their bench while facing the ongoing double-digit deficit, and Currence (four points), Wesley (two points) and sophomore forward Jack Utz (two points) also scored.
Currence added six assists.
Blue Springs South 55, Platte County 40
A defensive struggle in the first half gave way to offense in the second half for both teams in Monday’s pool opener at Grain Valley High School.
However, Vignery accounted for nearly all of Platte County’s production with 26 points, including 14 of the Pirates’ 15 in the first half. Blue Springs South led 23-15 at the break and then put up 16 points in both the third and fourth quarters to pull away. The Jaguars featured a pair of double-digit scorers in Chris Ellis (18) and Blayne Marshall (10) and three with at least eight points.
Ellis shot 6-for-10 on 3s and hit five in the second half.
Morrison gave Platte County a second double-digit scorer but put up all 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of 3s. Wetzel hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter, while Peterson finished with just one point, splitting two free throws in the second quarter. Vignery added team-highs of six rebounds and two steals. The Pirates committed six turnovers and finished with just 16 shot attempts total — 16 from Vignery, who shot 11-for-16 overall and 4-for-8 on 3s.
