By MATT PIKE
The North Platte Panthers overcame a slow start in the first half, storming back in the second half against the Mid-Buchanan Dragons and narrowly winning a 77-76 matchup at Bishop LeBlond High School, winning their first district title since 2011 in the Class 3 District 15 championship game.
It was another classic Kemper versus Kemper matchup, as Bryce Kemper led the Dragons against his son Bradyn Kemper and the Panthers for the third time this season. Both teams had won a matchup previously, Mid-Buchanan narrowly winning the regular season matchup 55-51, before North Platte earned a win in the North Platte Invitational Basketball Tournament 65-62.
For Bradyn, this matchup ranked right at the top of his coaching career thus far.
"It's not even close, as far as he (Bryce) goes he runs a tremendous program obviously, been one of the powerhouses in the area, a lot of the things that we do are some of the things that they've done and have been built on and I hated having to play this early in the postseason," Kemper told reporters after the game. "Two of the top public schools in the state matching up this early almost wasn't fair, but somebody had to lose and unfortunately their season ends, but I was happy it was them and not us and I'm happy our guys kept hitting shots."
Mid-Buchanan held control through the first half. After narrowly outscoring North Platte in the first quarter, leading 17-12, the Dragons pulled away in the second quarter, capitalizing on stifling defense and missed shots from the Panthers to take a 19 point lead into the halftime break, leading 44-25.
The message at halftime was a phrase the team has had all season Kemper says
"Don't be butter, that expression comes from butter in the microwave starts to melt when things get hot, and I said we were butter that first half," Kemper explains. "We were complaining about fouls, we were worried about us driving and not getting anything, and I thought the second half we calmed down, we played strong, we played together, and took it at the rim hard and didn't worry about a foul."
Senior Brenden Matt echoes that message from Kemper during the halftime break.
"He kind of came in there and reamed us a little bit, told us that we weren't playing the way we should and looked a little scared out there, and he was right," Matt says. "And that's what we needed to do, we needed to come out there and play hard, and that's what he said."
North Platte took the message from Kemper to heart, outscoring Mid-Buchanan 38-16 in the third quarter, and taking 63-60 lead. In the third quarter alone, both teams combined 10 of the 26 total three point shots that were made in the game between the Panthers and the Dragons. Four of those came from Matt, as he put up 14 points in the quarter alone, after scoring nine points through the first half.
Mid-Buchanan wasn't done though, as the game continued to go back and forth. Through the early parts of the fourth quarter, the Dragons never let North Platte pull away, exchanging blows. Eventually though, the Panthers began holding possessions as long as they could before taking shots, working down the clock, and continued answering every Mid-Buchanan bucket on way to the 77-76 victory.
It's been a long road for North Platte, for a long time sitting at the bottom of the district. Prior to the 2023-2024 season under Kemper, the Panthers hadn't had a winning season since the 2015-2016 season, just narrowly sitting above .500 at 14-13. In the last three years, Kemper has led North Platte to an 18-8 record, a 20-8 record, and so far this season a 24-4 record.
Kemper credits the kids he's had as part of the program that have helped him build it to what it's become.
"Each step of the way, my first group only won nine games, but it was one of my most fun groups I've had because they set the foundation, they were always there, they were always working," Kemper says. "We've always had good kids that keep working hard and this groups no different, some of these kids have been working since they were two years old and its starting to show, you've got to have good players, you've got to have players that work hard, and I've had here and that's really helped, they bought into it, they trusted me and they bought into it."
Matt led North Platte with 28 points. Jase Smith added 24 points while both Isaac Wright and Hunter Palmer each chipped in 10 points. For Mid-Buchanan it was Raife Smith leading the way with 28 points. Ian Campbell added 17 points while Chris Kowalewycz chipped in 13 points.
North Platte will face the South Harrison Bulldogs on Tuesday in St. Joseph at St. Joseph Christian for sectionals in the state tournament. Tipoff will be at 6pm
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.