What a difference 24 hours makes.
On Friday night, Platte-Geddes shot 28 percent in a loss at Lennox. But Saturday night in the feature game at the Hanson Corn Palace Classic against Madison -- a rematch of last year's state tournament championship contest -- the Black Panthers shot a red-hot 59 percent from the field in the first half and upset the Bulldogs, top-ranked in Class A, 64-59.
"We got off to a great start and things went into the basket," said Platte-Geddes coach Frank Cutler. "It gives you energy at the defensive end and you play harder."
Platte-Geddes, ranked No. 4 in Class A, jumped to a 10-2 lead within the first two minutes of the game.
Nothing Madison did seemed to work to slow down the Black Panthers. With just under three minutes until halftime, the Bulldogs' Michael Sullivan hit a 3-point shot to pull Madison to within 29-22.
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Platte-Geddes answered with a 3-point hoop of its own from Thad Campbell, which sparked the Black Panthers to close out the half on a 6-2 run and a 38-24 lead at intermission.
The first seven minutes of the second half was a replay of the first half. Platte-Geddes opened up its biggest lead of the game at 57-40 and it looked like it would be a blow out.
But Madison refused to give up.
Chad White scored seven of his team's next 14 points and suddenly, with five minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs made it a game, trailing just 57-54. Madison got to within one, 59-58, with just under two minutes to play when Sullivan dropped in two free throws.
"We did get tired, and I thought we had some shots I thought we could make, but just didn't make them," said Cutler. "Then (Madison) hit a couple of deep shots and some shots inside, and that gave them the energy. They're a great team, and great teams will get back into the game, and they did."
Trailing 61-59 with 47 seconds left to play, the Bulldogs had a chance to tie or take its first lead of the game, but a costly turnover gave the ball back to the Black Panthers. After a foul, Platte-Geddes' Keith Cutler sank two free throws to give the Black Panthers a four-point lead.
Madison had another chance to get close, but another turnover sealed the win for Platte-Geddes.
The Black Panthers (8-2) were led by Keith Cutler, who had 17 points and seven steals. Jordan Johnson added 15 points and Collin Ringling and Campbell each scored 10 points.
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Platte-Geddes was 25-of-55 for 45 percent from the field and 7-of-14 from the free-throw line. The Black Panthers grabbed 22 rebounds and turned the ball over six times.
"(Platte-Geddes) shot so well in the first half and we dug ourselves into a hole," said Madison coach Michael Ricke. "They really took us out of our game. We've got some big guys that can hit from the inside and when Platte-Geddes started to hit from the outside, our guys started to think we had to start hitting 3-pointers to get ourselves back into it.
"We really took it to them in the second half, but it was too deep of a hole and they hit some big shots when they really needed them."
The Bulldog attack was led by Tony Fiegen with 19 points and eight rebounds, followed by White with 16 points and Derrick Wiebe with 11 points.
Madison (10-1) was 22-of-42 for 52 percent from the floor and 11-of-15 for 73 percent from the free-throw line.
The Bulldogs had 27 rebounds and 17 turnovers.
Platte-Geddes will entertain No. 5 Parkston Tuesday while Madison will travel to Harrisburg, also on Tuesday.
