Randall leads P-G to District 10A championship

PLATTE/GEDDES — Junior guard Matthew Randall has been a key part of the Platte-Geddes boys’ basketball team’s lineup this season. Averaging nine points per game, Randall is an important part of the team’s chemistry, Platte-Geddes head coach Frank Cutler said.

“For us, we have a great scoring balance, which includes (Randall),” Cutler said. “We look to (Randall) for scoring, and he’s helped us get to where we want to be this season.”

Randall put up two high-scoring games to help his team win the District 10A championship title Saturday.

For his efforts, Randall has been named The Daily Republic’s athlete of the week, an award voted on by the newspaper’s sports staff.

In Platte-Geddes’ District 10A semifinal game against Bon Homme, Randall netted 17 points. The Black Panthers went on to win 63-53 on Friday.

Platte-Geddes defeated Wagner in its next game 52-35 in the District 10A championship game. Randall scored 13 points and led the team with five rebounds.

“He made a bunch of free throws down the stretch in our game against Bon Homme,” Cutler said. “(Randall) has been good late in games. Six of his 17 points came from free throws in our game against Bon Homme, so he’s a good player to have on the line at the end of games.”

Cutler said during the Black Panthers’ game against Wagner, Randall hit two key 3-pointers in the first quarter, giving his team a boost after a slow start.

“Both teams started out really slow,” Cutler said of Platte-Geddes’ district championship game. “(Randall) was able to get us jump started, and that was a big part of the game. Those shots (Randall) made in the middle of the first quarter kind of got us going.”

Randall said one of the goals he set with his team at the beginning of the year was to make it to the regional championships and help his team get a shot at winning the state title.

“I knew we’d be looked at as the underdogs, but I knew we had a chance to go to state,” Randall said.

Randall said he feels pretty good about the way he’s been playing this season, but that there’s always room for improvement.

For its next game, Platte-Geddes plays Tri-Valley for the Region 5A championship game at 7 p.m. today in Parkston.

Randall said in order for Platte-Geddes to come up with a win, the team is going to have to play good defense.

“(Tri-Valley) is really athletic and they rebound hard,” he said. “We didn’t have to worry about that so much with (Bon Homme and Wagner), but Tri-Valley is a little more athletic.”

Cutler agreed.

“I’m going to need them all to contribute, along with (Randall),” Cutler said. “We got that on Friday and Saturday night to win our district, and that’s kind of been a key to our winning season.”

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