YATES CENTER — Sometimes it just is your day.
Yates Center senior Brett Holloway had one of those days Saturday, but it wouldn’t have been possible without his teammates.
It started with a basketball game against Cedar Vale/Dexter.
The Wildcats were out for revenge against the Spartans after the Spartans had beaten them last season. The Wildcats (10-7) also came in with a three-game losing-streak. The Wildcats were looking to regain their mojo.
“We were looking to snap our losing streak and last year we led most of the game and they came back and got us right at the end. That had been on our mind for a year,” Holloway said. “We weren’t going to let up on them.”
Guard Mikey Bruner made sure of that in Yates Center’s 85-44 win. Bruner poured in 25 points. The Wildcats led 51-24 at halftime and were never challenged by the overmatched Spartans.
“Mikey is a really big facilitator,” Holloway said. “If he’s on, we notice that as a team.”
The game was just a precursor to the grand finale for Holloway, who scored eight points. Yates Center coach Tanner Davis came over to his senior, as the clock ticked down on their victory to ask if he was ready.
Holloway gave his approval and with just 10 seconds left in the game, Davis signaled for a timeout.
The bench — which contained mostly Wildcat starters at this juncture — reached behind their chairs as the P.A. announcer began to speak.
Over the gym’s loud speaker, he summoned Kayla McDougald to the court and as she made her way down, Holloway’s teammates grabbed large signs behind their seats. Each sign contained a letter.
“I think of the team as my family so I saw the chance to do something,” Holloway said. “I knew coming in that we had a rivalry against (Cedar Vale/Dexter) and we were looking to score quite a bit on them so I was just hoping my team-family could help me.”
Together the signs spelled out ‘P.R.O.M.?’ and as Holloway and McDougald met at midcourt and embraced, he got the answer he had been hoping for.
According to Davis, the only way he was going to allow the stunt was in a lopsided game like it was on Saturday.
“He asked me the other day and I said if we get up by a decent lead I’d help him out, but it it’s a close game, he can forget about it,” Davis said.
In addition to Bruner’s 25, freshman Aaron King scored 15 and sophomore Kobe Forsyth added 12.
