YATES GETS TESTED BY WHEATLEY IN 109-95 WIN!

Yates fans had to sweat one out on Wednesday night at Delmar Fieldhouse, as their Lions (6-0) were heavily challenged by the Wheatley Wildcats, but as has been Yates’ wont in recent years, they finished strongly in the fourth quarter where it counts most in a barnburner.

The Yates-Wheatley rivalry which matches the Third Ward and Fifth Ward schools is one of the biggest in the state of Texas and drew a relatively large crowd for a weekday night to Delmar.

The win was the Lions’ 64th straight going back almost two years, as they held on to win it at the end, 109-95. For a while though, it looked like Wheatley had the right pieces to pull an upset.

This was the Lions’ toughest game of the young season, but in the end Wheatley turned out to be just another victim for Yates. The 95 points scored against Yates was the most they’ve given up so far this season and the final 14-point margin was the closest game of the young season for them.

With a big game coming up in two weeks vs. national power, Findlay Prep (12/16), followed by the annual HISD Tournament (12/17-12/20) and then a Christmas week game vs. Grace Prep (12/28) from Dallas, the Lions will be heavily tested in December, as they continue to put all the pieces of the puzzle together in order to defend their Texas 4A State Champion title.

Like Yates, the Wildcats (3-2) also play an up-tempo full-court pressing game of their own. The game was played at a racehorse pace by both teams, which saw the Lions up by four (30-26) at the quarter and by nine (61-52) at the half. As hard as the Lions tried to pull away, the Wildcats kept hanging in there.

Wheatley got as close as four points, 74-70, in the third quarter with 3:32 left after scoring on a pair of turnovers. After Yates junior forward Clyde Santee scored on a layup, Wildcats junior guard Ruston Hayward answered with 3:02 left to cut the Yates lead to 76-72.

Junior forward Damyeon Dotson’s dunk with 2:42 left opened the lead to six and after a pair of missed free throws by Hayward, the Lions were able to up the lead to 81-72. Wheatley pulled to within five with 30 seconds to go in the quarter, but the Lions closed out the quarter on a 4-0 run, including a tip by Dotson with a second left, giving the Lions an 87-78 lead after three quarters.

The Wheatley team had scouted Yates last Saturday evening vs. North Forest and was well-prepared and very intense, continually beating the Yates' press. Ironically, Yates known for forcing turnovers, actually committed more turnovers (24) than Wheatley did (22).

But in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats started to tire and had trouble finding the basket and the Lions took advantage. Led by the scoring of Santee, Tre Bennett, and Ronnie Lewis, Yates was able to open the lead to as much as 19 points. They hit the century mark for the fifth time in six games on a free throw by Trey Dickerson with 3:04 left in the game.

Dotson led all players with 31 points and 16 rebounds. The 6-5 junior even had a couple of 3-pointers, as all five Lions starters scored in double digits, but Yates got only 14 points from its bench.

Hayward led the Wildcats’ with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Yates’ next regular season game is next Tuesday evening vs. Jefferson Davis at 7:30 pm at Barnett Fieldhouse in the Lions' district opener.