The work in progress showed in Friday’s home opener.
Platte County junior Brock Dye goes in for a layup against Raytown on Friday at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Platte County started strong and took an early lead, but the offense dried up for an extended period in each half. Raytown took advantage and pulled away for a 57-38 victory over the Pirates in a Suburban Conference White Division matchup at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Now with the full complement of players on the roster active, Platte County hit five 3-pointers but only one after halftime. Jacoby Keith, a junior guard, accounted for four of them and led the Pirates with 12 points.
“With so many newcomers to the varsity level, it’s going to take some time,” Platte County coach Rick Hodge said. “They’re starting to gel, play off of each other. I think our defense is a little farther along that I thought it was going to be, but we have to get better in all areas.”
After a layoff of longer than a week since the season-opening Savannah Invitational, Platte County (2-2) rotated through 10 players with eight scoring at least one point. Keith ended up as the only one to reach double figures for the Pirates, who brought back only one starter from last season.
Raytown (1-1) finished second in the conference last season but graduated four of the top five scorers.
Early on, Platte County looked prime to build on the back-to-back win from the previous week. Eli Hockaday, a junior, converted a layup off of a Raytown turnover on the game’s opening possession. He ended up with the Pirates’ first three points.
Platte County junior Jude Brown goes in for a layup against Raytown on Friday at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Raytown senior guard Miguel Morgan answered with a 3-pointer, and Platte County senior point guard Jayden Martin, the lone returning starter and only player for the Pirates with significant varsity experience prior to this season, went to the bench after picking up his second foul with 4 minutes, 11 seconds left in the first quarter.
Platte County survived the difficult stretch with the teams exchanging 3-pointer on three straight possessions. The Pirates went up 6-3 on junior Brock Dye’s shot from the outside and then 9-6 when Keith splashed home his first.
“We’ve got to stay out of the foul trouble,” Hodge said. “We want to add more pressure on the ball; we want to trap in different scenarios, but we can’t be in foul trouble when we do it.
“Yes, we weathered through that early with Jayden, but then we struggled scoring in the second half.”
Platte County went into the second quarter up 11-9 after Morgan, who finished with a game-high 18 points, made just 1 of 3 free throws with 0.1 seconds left in the first quarter. He drew a foul on a 3-point attempt, but his own lane violation erased a make on the first and he missed the third.
Platte County scored just 11 points in the second quarter and hit a slump before halftime. Keith made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, and the Pirates held possession with a chance to take the lead back while down 23-22 just before halftime.
Platte County junior Jordy Moore defense against Raytown on Friday at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Instead, a turnover led to a runout layup for Raytown, and Platte County junior guard Isaac Nelson, who finished with four points, saw his three-quarters court heave at the buzzer bang off the backboard and rim.
“It was some of us and some of them,” Hodge said. “With what we were doing, we’ve got to have guys attack the rim more. We settle for too many 3s sometimes and don’t drive enough when we probably should. Raytown does a lot with switching and jumping passing lanes. We knew that. We drilled them on it all week, and we just had some bad turnovers with that.”
Keith hit his final 3-pointer in the third quarter, and Raytown stretched the lead with the final margin of victory matched the largest lead of the game.
Platte County hit only 14 total field goals and shot just 5 of 12 on free throws. Dye finished with seven points, while Hockaday totaled five, making just four free throws after his layup on the Pirates’ first possession.
The rotations did shift again with juniors Jude Brown and Jordy Moore playing for the first time this season after helping Platte County’s football team to a second straight state championship in Class 5. They scored four points apiece.
Martin finished with just one point, hitting 1 of 4 free throws in the fourth quarter. Bryton Bertram, a senior forward, also hit a free throw in the second quarter.
“We get football players late, and now it’s another gelling process to incorporate them and understand their roles,” Hodge said.
Platte County plays two more White Division games this upcoming week — at Belton on Tuesday and at home vs. William Chrisman on Friday. The Pirates also have a 12 Courts of Christmas matchup with an opponent TBD on Monday, May 29 before the calendar turns to 2026.
