CHEROKEE — The Yates Center Wildcats appeared to reach their peak in Wednesday’s substate semifinal contest, but it was not enough to get past the Cherokee Southeast Lancers.
Yates Center meticulously clawed back from a calamitous start, narrowing the Lancers’ lead to two possessions in the second half, but it was not enough to stop Southeast from advancing with a 60-48 victory.
“You take away the 10-3 first quarter and that second quarter, where we didn’t box out and gave up a couple of threes in a row, and it’s a typical ballgame,” Yates Center coach Lane Huffman said. “We outscored them by three in the second half. We did some of the right things, we just did them a little too late.”
After falling to the Lancers 62-33 in January, the first quarter seemed like déjà vu for Yates Center. A close-range shot from sophomore guard Ben Cook and a free-throw from junior forward Jeremiah Jones were Yates Center’s only two scores of the first quarter.
“You know what you get with Ben. He can go out and score 30,” Coach Huffman said. “I know he’s beating himself up right now with eight missed free throws, which is uncharacteristic of him. Within our offense, he was getting threes.”
Thanks to their savvy defense, however, Yates Center stayed in contention. Southeast only had a three-possession advantage heading into the second quarter. The Lancers found their footing with a trio of 3-pointers from sophomore guard Tucker Sutton. Senior forward Blake Robinson added to the Lancers’ 25-17 run with a 3-pointer sandwiched between a pair of field goals.
“We knew they were going to play the zone, and they’re long and athletic,” Huffman said. “It makes it look more intimidating than what it is and we did not attack it. In the second half, we attacked and got a couple of layups. We drove the seam, but we figured it out too late.”
Yates Center came within 15 points, 35-20, at halftime after Cook got hot with a drive and a 3-pointer, along with a pair of field goals from sophomore guard Marcus Cummings. With less than a minute on the clock, Jones picked up three the hard way after drawing a foul on a successful drive, then Cook capped off the half with the second of his three 3-pointers for the night.
Cook and junior guard Colton Burkholder got the Wildcats rolling with a drive and a 3-pointer respectively. After going scoreless in the first half, sophomore guard Gavin Busteed busted loose with a drive, followed by a 3-pointer, then three on a contested drive to end the third quarter. Foul trouble limited Busteed to just two field goals in the fourth quarter. Before fouling out, a Busteed drive followed by Cook’s final 3-pointer made it a two-possession game, but that was as close to victory as Yates Center would get.
“Gavin is one of those guys who can knock down threes and bully you to the basket,” Huffman said. “When we need a play, he will go out there and make it.”
A Sutton 3-pointer, followed by several close-range field goals and free-throws prevented any hope of a Wildcat comeback. Despite knowing defeat was imminent, the Wildcats persisted as Cook drove to the basket, drawing a foul at the buzzer. With 0.01 seconds left, he sank his final free-throw — lighting up the scoreboard one last time.
“The speech afterwards was hard, because I didn’t plan on giving it. I was hoping we would be on the other side,” Huffman said.
Yates Center ends their season with a 13-12 record. Cook had a team-leading 22 points. Busteed had 12 points, followed by Cummings and Jones with four points each, then Burkholder and junior guard Evan McVey with three points each. Despite the loss, with every one of the Wildcats coming back next season, Coach Huffman said he is eager to get back to the drawing board.
“Last year, we pretty much rotated the same guys,” Huffman said. “We’re going to get three years of the same rotation, two summers of these guys playing together. It ought to work out for us next year.”
