Worth County won a wild 78-66 game over Platte Valley Thursday in district semifinals as Caleb New had a new career high of 42 points just a few games after he had an earlier career high of 40. The Tigers needed an extra period after they couldn’t close it out at the end of regulation, but made most of their free throws in the extra period to get the win.
At first, it looked like it would be the massacre of 2024, in which Platte Valley beat Worth County 79-28 in districts with many of the same players on both teams participating in that game. Everything Platte Valley threw up in the first quarter went in as they built up a 20-11 lead after the first quarter. Caleb New had 7 points in the period in a futile effort to stem the tide. At the end of the first period, Worth County only had three rebounds, and they only had two people in the scoring column offensively.
Five straight by Caleb New and a triple by Cole Ruby righted the ship in the second quarter as Worth County showed a lot of growth in that period by responding to a big quarter with one of their own. Dylan Smith got a steal and fed Brock Healy, who threw it to New for three, which knotted the game at 22.
The game was tied at 24 before Brock Healy slashed and scored, Caleb New hit a 3-pointer, Brock Healy took a charge on 6’5” behemoth Andy Mattson, Caleb New slashed and scored after Dylan Smith got an offensive board, and Hayden Sanders kept a ball alive and fed Brock Healy at the halftime buzzer to put the Tigers in front 34-24 at the half.
But then Platte Valley, which always elevates its game come district time, started coming back as Grady Gockel had a big third quarter and was joined in the scoring column by Ezra Morriss. Worth County got their fourth and fifth players in the scoring column, but their lead steadily shrunk until Dylan Klamm got a steal with 59 seconds left in the period to put Platte Valley in front 42-41. Ryder Smyser hit a free throw, drawing Grady Gockel’s fourth foul, and Caleb New hit a backdoor layup, but Worth County pulled the trigger too soon as Morriss countered with a guarded three to put Platte Valley back in front 45-44.
Platte Valley leading scorer Grady Gockel was on the bench with foul trouble, but it was Platte Valley who came out of the gate strong as Andy Mattson cashed in a lob and they also got baskets from Mason Holaday and Aiden McQueen to go up 53-50 before back to back jacks by Caleb New put the Tigers back in front 56-53. Grady Gockel came back to knot it at 56, but Brock Healy drove and scored to make it 58-56, and Ezra Morriss could only make one out of two to make it 58-57.
Hayden Sanders took a charge on defense and Brock Healy slashed and scored after a third-chance possession with 42 seconds. That made it 60-57. Ezra Morriss drove and scored with 17 seconds left, only for Brock Healy to counter with two free throws to make it 52-59 with 10.9 seconds left.
Platte Valley took it to their end and called a timeout to set up a play. They got it into Grady Gockel, and despite a defender on him, he leaped as high as he ever had in his life and drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer, forcing Worth County to win it all over again.
But Worth County was up to the task as they started piling stop after stop and cashing in on the other end. Caleb New went backdoor to score off a pass from Ryder Smyser, Brock Healy hit a free throw, and Caleb New added two to make it 67-62. Ezra Morriss countered with free throws to make it 67-64, but Ryder Smyser was hammered on a putback try and made both tries to make it 69-64. Following another stop, Platte Valley was forced to start fouling and Caleb New hit four straight at the line, Ryder Smyser got loose in transition as Platte Valley overextended trying to get the ball back, Brock Healy hit two free throws, Cole Ruby hit one, and Cole Ruby then stole the ball to seal the game.
Caleb New had 42 points for the Tigers. Brock Healy had 18, Cole Ruby 8, Hayden Sanders 5, and Brock Healy 5.
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