YATES CENTER — Yates Center High broke into the win column in a big way Friday, putting together a 16-0 run to break open a close game with Southern Coffey County on the way to a 50-20 victory.
“It was nice to find ourselves on the winning side of things,” Wildcat head coach Lane Huffman said. “Everybody on the roster got into the game and contributed. The boys brought a patience on the offensive side of the ball that we’ve been looking for all year. We’ve had some games where we would do it for a little while, then speed up or settle. Tonight we took our time and found the shots we wanted.”
Yates Center scored the last six points of the first quarter to extend a 9-7 lead to 15-7 advantage. Another 10 straight points, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman Colton Burkholder, made it 25-7.
The lead swelled to 41-17 by the end of the third quarter.
“Defensively, we have a little bit of work to do,” Huffman said. “We didn’t do a great job of staying in front of our man, or rebounding. We have to break the habit of playing good defense, then giving them an extra shot or more at the rim.”
Deveraux Sarchet paced Yates Center with 14 points. Jarrett Birk was next with 12. Burkholder and Evan McVey scored seven apiece, Tristan Ballin had five, Blake Cuppy three and Jeremiah Jones two.
Cyrus Nickel scored 11 to pace Southern Coffey County. Hank Newton added five and Trey Winn and Seth Gleue two each.
Yates Center didn’t have to wait long for its second victory, either. Chetopa had to forfeit its Monday matchup against the Lancers.
“We look forward to taking this momentum into Tuesday with a talented Altoona-Midway team,” Huffman said.
Southern Coffey County hosted Burlingame Monday and will host Lebo Friday. Monday’s game was not available by press time.
