YATES WINS 63RD STRAIGHT: NIPS NORTH FOREST, 105-78

On Saturday night at Barnett Fieldhouse, the Yates Lions started off slowly, but with their relentless and aggressive press and their constant attacking of the hoop, took care of the North Forest Bulldogs, in what was Yates’ closest game of the season so far, as they won, 105-78. It was a sloppy win, but a win is a win nevertheless.


In a foul-marred game, the Lions continued their poor foul shooting this season as they shot only 28-for-48. The Bulldogs on the other hand didn’t do much better, shooting 14-for-25 from the line.


The defending Texas 4A champions and defending national mythical champion Lions (5-0) won their 63rd consecutive game since December 2008. They led by just 13-10 with about three minutes left in the first quarter, but went on a 10-1 run to close out the quarter to go up by a dozen, 23-11. In the quarter, they forced 20 turnovers, which tells you how bad they must have played by just scoring 23 points. For the game, they forced 56 turnovers.


An 11-0 run during the middle of the second quarter helped give the Lions a 53-32 lead at the half. Their biggest lead of the game was several times in the fourth quarter by 31 points, with the last being at 98-67.


The Lions hit the century mark for the fourth time in five games when J.C. Washington scored on a dunk with 1:35 left in the game to put Yates up, 101-72. He ended the game with nine points, five rebounds and an impressive seven blocks.


The top scorer with 22 for Yates was Ronnie Lewis who came off the bench. Junior forward, Damyeon Dotson, had 18 points and nine rebounds while senior guard, Shai Fields, had 16 points.


Johnny Pope was the Bulldogs (1-3) leading scorer with 24, followed by Andre Sloan with 18 points.


Yates' next game is Wednesday night at Delmar Fieldhouse vs. the Wheatley Wildcats at 7 PM.