North Platte boys hoops can’t keep up against Miller Career Academy in Class 3 State Semifinals defeat

(COLUMBIA, MO) - The North Platte High School boys basketball team came out and was firing all cylinders, matching Miller Career Academy blow-for-blow in the first half of the Class 3 State Semifinals.

Both teams amazingly hit five three-point shows in a span of the final 47 seconds of the half.

But the hot Panthers shooting cooled off in the second half, as the team only shot 31% from the field in the final two periods. Miller Career Academy shot 52% during that period, and that was the story of the game in the 75-56 defeat for North Platte.

Senior Brenden Matt led the Panthers with 18 points, junior Jase Smith was close behind with 16 points. Junior Isaac Wright finished with a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Dylan Armstrong had a near double-double with 9 assists and 7 rebounds while adding 4 points.

It was three brothers that had strong nights for Miller Career Academy, CJ Nelson led all scores with 27 points. Calvin Nelson had 20 points and Cameren Nelson finished with 14 points.

"I was proud of our boys. We did a lot of things. That was a really good team and their records deceiving because they play nothing but St. Louis big schools," said North Platte head coach Braydn Kemper. "We knew coming in we were going to have to defend them. I thought in the half court, we did a good job, but we didn't do a very good job in transition. We hadn't played a team that can shoot it quite like us, and I think today was the first time we had a team that can shoot it like us."

"Only two teams can say they can come out with a win tomorrow, we want to be one of them," said Matt. "We don't want to dwell on this. It's not the end of the season. We have one more game."

North Platte falls to 26-5 on the season and now will face Liberty Mountain View in the Class 3 Third Place Game on Saturday, March 14th at noon in Columbia.