YATES CENTER Yates Center Highs boys started fast and ended faster Tuesday night.
The Wildcats blitzed visiting Crest, 18-4, out of the gates and cruised from there to a 70-46 victory.
The victory included a highly anticipated mano y mano showdown between two standouts, Yates Centers Aaron King and Crests Hayden Hermreck.
Neither disappointed. King was dominant from the start, scoring 11 of his 26 points in the first quarter, using a combination of baseline jumpers, drives to the hoop and assorted other putbacks.
After a slow start, Hermreck kicked it in gear in the second quarter. He scored 18 points, despite suffering flu-like symptoms in the run-up to the game.
But both teams showed theyre more than one-man shows, particularly the host Wildcats.
Yates Centers press wreaked havoc on Crests offense early on, paving the way for Kings early fireworks. He was joined by guard Hayden Splechter, who scored six in the frame and 18 for the game.
We came out and played with great intensity, both offensively and defensively, Wildcat head coach Jason Graf said. Were a team. They did a great job of doing things together. Our team defense is getting better.
I dont know what the guys were expecting, because we knew what was coming, Lancer head coach Travis Hermreck said. We werent really locked in and focused like we should have been at the start. But Im pretty proud of the fact that once we got down early, we stayed with it. We got a little careless at the end, but a lot of the game, I was pretty happy.
The Wildcats lead stood at 21-6 after one quarter.
The margin varied little after that until the Wildcats ended the game with a flourish, outscoring the Lancers, 23-14 in the frame.
There were individual moments of brilliance, aside from the aforementioned King and Hermreck.
Yates Centers Kendrick Jones shined early in the third quarter, blocking a Lancer field goal attempt, fielding the rebound and slashing his way up the court for a layup. He finished the night with 11 points
On the other side of the ledger, Crests Jacob Holloran found his shooting touch in the second half, drilling three 3-pointers to help keep things close.
All in all, it was kind of a weird night for us, Graf said. We worked on some things tonight we havent normally done. I was happy with our whole team stepped up tonight. We just need to keep plugging away and keep getting better. Well take the win and be happy.
Hayden Hermreck, Coach Hermrecks son, was familiar with several Wildcat players, having practiced and played with them in the offseason.
