YATES CENTER — Crest High’s boys put the finishing touches on an undefeated romp through the Three Rivers League Friday.
The Lancers secured their first TRL championship in head coach Dakotah Sporing’s tenure in style, outscoring host Yates Center 39-3 over the second and third quarters in a 64-18 romp.
The win lifts Crest to 16-4 overall, including a spotless 12-0 against TRL opponents. Yates Center falls to 6-14 to wrap up the regular season.
Crest was relentless, and quite effective, at getting the ball inside. Crest shot a scorching 66% — 31 of 47 — from 2-point range. The Lancers were so effective inside, they scarcely needed to shoot from outside.
Even better, Sporing noted, was the team’s balanced scoring, with three players in double figures and five scoring at least eight.
“Our offense is starting to click,” Sporing said. “My favorite part is, I don’t think we have a best player. Our best player is whoever wants to be it for the next three minutes.”
They sure took their turns Friday.
Jacob Zimmerman and Kole Walter took control early, scoring six each in the first quarter. Levi Prasko and Zimmerman got into the act in the second, scoring six each in that frame as Crest stretched a 16-10 lead with a 19-3 run.
Walter tacked on eight in the third quarter in a 20-0 Crest run, making it 55-13.
Crest’s starters were done for the night by the time the fourth quarter started, opening the door for reserve Roy Gordon to erupt down the stretch. He scored all eight of his points in the fourth period.
Yates Center head coach Lane Huffman noted the Wildcats — who have played primarily zone defense this season, switched things up a bit Friday.
The Wildcats started with a man-to-man defense before shifting to a 1-3-1 zone after Crest started attacking the rim.
And when the Lancers still were getting open looks, Yates Center went back to the man defense the rest of the way.
“If we’re gonna lose, we’ll learn how to play man defense while we do it,” Huffman said.
Actually, it was Crest’s move to a zone defense that stymied the Wildcats, Huffman continued.
“We were prepared for a little more pressure from them,” he said. “But when they went to the zone, we struggled for whatever reason. We usually have a pretty good zone offense, and are able to move the ball, but we weren’t able to do that tonight, and the ball got stuck.”
