The Yates Center High School Wildcats took their win streak to four games after trouncing the Altoona-Midway Jets Friday.
Following a slow start, where they trailed 9-6 after the first quarter, the Wildcats regained their footing to take a 50-37 victory.
“We are pleased with the end result of a win, but not happy with the process to get there,” Yates Center coach Lane Huffman said of the contest.
“Offensively, we struggled to get into transition and get the easy buckets we have been getting lately. Defensively, we didn’t stay in front of our man well at all.”
After going into halftime ahead 21-18, the Wildcats slowly pulled away in the third quarter before busting the contest wide open in the fourth.
Sophomore guard Ben Cook had a team-leading 14 points, followed by sophomore guard Gavin Busteed with 11, then junior forward Jeremiah Jones with 6 points.
Huffman credited his bench for leading the charge and getting Yates Center back in the contest.
“I credit our bench for flipping the scoreboard in the second quarter,” Huffman said. “The first group struggled to bring the energy, and our young guys stepped up. We’ve played six games in the last two weeks. I know our guys have some tired legs.”
The Wildcats improved to 9-7 overall and evened their Three Rivers League record to 4-4.
They stay in the Three Rivers League while hosting Uniontown Tuesday and on Thursday face Pleasanton, who currently occupies second place in the TRL with one loss to Southeast earlier this season.
The results from the Uniontown game were at press time.
In junior varsity action, the Wildcats won their two-quarter contest 46-16. Junior guard Colton Burkholder had 11 points, followed by sophomore forward Jacob Smoot and freshman guard Caleb Kuhn with 10 points, then sophomore guard Brogan McVonaghie with 8 points.
