Titans hold off YC in overtime

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Sports

December 4, 2012 - 12:00 AM

YATES CENTER — A year after struggling through a one-win season, Southern Coffey County boys head coach Brandt Miller figured his team’s success would hinge on contributions from a few key performers in 2012-13.
Monday’s contest against host Yates Center High in Yates Center’s Wildcat Winter Classic may have provided the most encouraging signs yet.
Junior Aaron True, one of the team’s projected catalysts, took over late in the contest, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
True’s layup with 33 seconds left in overtime broke a 48-48 deadlock. His two free throws 16 seconds later gave the Wildcats a three-point lead.
Yates Center missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the last five seconds, giving Southern Coffey County the 52-49 win.
The Titans (1-1) don’t have much time to bask in the glow of victory. They return to action this evening in the second round of tournament play. Results from Monday and tonight will determine seeds for Friday’s final round.
Aside from True’s contribution, the game’s other key moments came at the start of the second quarter.
Up until then, Yates Center had largely dictated the game’s frenetic pace with its pressing defense and all-out race to the basket on offense.
As a result, SCC was getting good looks, Miller said, “but these are looks that would be just as good after seven or eight passes as they would be with one or two. We only go six or seven players deep, and there’s no way we could have kept up with them.”
Yates Center head coach Kevin Brown, meanwhile, lamented his team’s missed opportunities, most visibly on the free throw line.
The Wildcats were a frigid 5 of 24 shooting from the stripe, including 11 misses in a row at one point.
“There were lots of little things that hurt us,” Brown said. “The missed free throws, obviously, some missed layups, not taking care of the ball. We played well at times in the second half, but then we’d stop doing those things when we got the lead.”
A 13-5 Titan run spanning the second quarter turned a two-point deficit into a 26-20 lead at the break. The Wildcats cut the gap to five points, 29-24, heading into the fourth quarter.
Yates Center’s Cameron Brown also shined down the stretch at both ends of the court, mixing in at least three blocked shots in the fourth quarter and overtime, while teammate Robert Arnold came alive with six points in the fourth quarter before fouling out.
A Trevor Chism 3-pointer followed by Brown’s driving layup knotted the score at 36-36 with 5 1/2 minutes left.
Neither team led by more than three points down the stretch.
True connected on a free throw to give the Titans a 43-40 lead with 2:41 left in regulation before Austin McNett and Miles Dice scored for Yates Center to give the Wildcats a 44-43 lead at the 1:53 mark.
Tyler Houston’s turnaround jumper from the baseline gave the lead back to Southern Coffey County. Brown went 1 of 2 from the line with a minute left to knot the score at 45-45.
Both team’s missed scoring opportunities in the waning seconds. McNett missed a pair of free throws with 24 seconds on the clock. The Titans had two good looks at the basket in the final five seconds, but both shots rimmed out, sending the game to overtime.
Brown led the way for Yates Center with 19 points, followed by Chism wit 10 and Dice with eight.
True was followed by Houston with 13 and Walker Harred with eight.
Southern Coffey County returns to action tonight to face Altoona-Midway. Yates Center takes on Altoona-Midway Thursday.
Southern Coffey Co. (13-13-8-11-7—52)
Yates Center (15-5-9-16—49)
SCC (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): True 4-6-3-14, Newkirk 0/1-0-2-3, Houston 5/1-0-2-13, Patterson 2-0-5-4, Nelson 1-0-5-2, Witteman 2-4-2-8, Vahsholtz 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 18/2-10-24-52.
Yates Center (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Chism 2/2-0-1-10, Cooper 0-0-2-0, DeNoon 1-0-4-2, Schemper 0-0-3-0, Brown 7-5-2-19, McNett 2-0-5-4, Dice 4-0-0-8, Rossillon 0-0-4-0, Arnold 3-0-5-6. TOTALS: 19/2-5-26-49.

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