Grain Valley Boys defeat Platte County on the road Tuesday night

by Bill Althaus

PLATTE COUNTY, Mo. - Grain Valley center Sam Pendergrass continues to get the dirty work done in the paint while his teammates provide the outside scoring as the Eagles traveled to Platte County High School Tuesday night to claim a hard-fought 52-40 victory over the Pirates.

Pendergrass led the Eagles with 15 points as the Pirates made sure that tam scoring leader Eli Herbert had to work for all his points.

"They weren't going to let Eli beat them," said coach Andy Herbert, Eli's father. "We scored a lot of points from the free throw line because the game was so physical. We shot free throws in every quarter and Eli finished 9-for-9, and had 12 points in the game.

"That's when we need Sam and Anthony (Juarez) to do what they do so well - play physical, get the rebounds and keep the other team off the scoreboard."

Juarez finished with six points, and Coach Herbert quipped, "Anthony's six points may not seem like a lot, but when you only score 52 points, that's a big deal."

Another big deal was Tucker Hughes' nine points off the bench - on three 3-pointers.

"Tucker came off the bench and did what Tucker Hughes does," the coach said. "Tucker hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter and one in the fourth - and we needed all of them."

The win gave the Eagles a 12-7 record as they head into their big Senior Night game at 7 p.m. Friday in their new gymnasium.

"That's going to be a big night, and we excited about honoring our seniors," the coach said.

He's not a senior, but Eli knows the impact that night can have on a team.

"Aaron (Barr), Evan (Colson), Tucker (Hughes) and Kevin (Johnson) are great teammates who have meant so much to our team this season," Eli said. "When we play a physical game like we did at Platte County, we need everyone to contribute. And they've been contributing all season.

"I'm feeling the results of last night's win. I'm hurting a little bit, but you know we're all going to be ready for Belton Friday night."