Texas 4A Semi Finals

I didn't have any pics of the Yates personnel to spice up the story, so I included the pic below of Nic Wise (left) & Chip Ivany (right) as they both worked the Arizona Elite Camp last summer.
Nic Wise is of course, the son of Yates Coach Greg Wise. The younger Wise is a Junior starting at the point for the Wildcats and has one State Championship under his belt with Humble Kingwood. Pops Greg Wise looks to be barrelling towards his 1st State Championship at Houston Yates. Wise previously lost at State while coaching Fort Bend Hightower.

Houston Yates 76 Mansfield Timberview 51

Congrats to my buddy, Coach Greg Wise as his Yates Lions crushed an overmatched Mansfield Timberview squad with their relentless pressure. Timberview did a great job in the 1st quarter as they held Yates to a one point game. However, depth was the difference. As Timberview tired and the fouls mounted so did their mistakes. Forcing close to 30 turnovers, the wave after wave of Lions pressed full court for almost the entire game. I forget who said it, but some coach said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all". Yates imposed their will. Look for the best team in the State of Texas in ANY CLASS to thump a pretty good Kimball team by 25 or more on Saturday.

The scoring was balanced. Brandon "Snap" Peters was all over the place defensively and showed his great vertical on several occasions while notching 12 points for Yates. Timberview Senior Cedric Ivory had a dozen for Timberview.

LBJ's 2010 G Donald Dallas (Below) Dallas Kimball 66 Austin LBJ 54

My heart said LBJ, but it was not to be. A competitive 1st quarter where LBJ looked like the aggressor early turned quickly to disappointment for the Jaguar faithful. In the early going it was LBJ who looked like the quicker team. They caused turnovers and rebounded with energy. The Jags had a 16-14 lead.

Early in the 2nd quarter the tide turned when the Kimball Knights turned up the pressure full court and LBJ turned it over on successive possessions, resulting in easy buckets. Lanky 2010 W 6'5" David Kates turned the quarter into his personal one man show. He finished with 24 points, and double digit rebounds. Throw in several blocks, steals, a couple of deep threes as well as assists and he was easily the best player on the court.

2010 G Cameron Brown (Lee Brown's boy from the Austin Wreckers club team) led the Jags with 15. 2010 G Donald Dallas also scored in double digits for LBJ. After showing energy on the boards early, the rest of the game was left on the broad shoulders of Texas Tech football signee Kerry Hyder. He had little to no rebounding help. In my opinion this was the difference in the game. LBJ was more effective going small. Too much David Kates was the difference. His energy level was unmatched.