ARMA A three-year stretch of dominance came to a close Saturday afternoon in the Northeast Arma gym.
The Yates Center Wildcats, who have ruled the roost of the Three Rivers League in recent past, wrapped up an 18-3 season with a 40-32 loss to Pittsburg-St. Marys Colgan in the 2A sub-state finals.
The Wildcats came into the tournament as the top-seed but going in, they knew Colgan was much more than your average two-seed.
Both teams played lights out defense for the majority of game but it was Colgan who, down-the-stretch, managed to keep the Wildcats top players from taking over the game.
In a 40-32 ballgame, thats really good defense on both ends of the floor, Yates Center head coach Jason Graf said. We knew it was going to be this kind of game and weve been building for this and to play like this, Im just proud as hell of my guys. Weve played hard all year and I wish we could be moving on. We did a lot of good things this year and we really turned the corner as a program.
It was a game that started physical and stayed that way for the duration, despite fewer than 20 fouls being called between the two teams. Colgan came out determined to not let the offensively gifted Wildcats find a rhythm and for the most part, they were successful.
They were physical with us early on and we didnt handle it very well, Graf said. Finally we just started attacking the basket and things started to happen.
Yates Center never felt they had a foothold. Colgan was always just a step or two ahead. When the Wildcats held the Panthers to zero points in the third quarter, the Panthers responded by making sure that they still had a lead, even if it was just two points.
It was a three from senior Aaron King that cut the lead to two, 27-25, at the 3:15 mark and neither team scored for the remainder of the quarter.
Part of those offensive troubles came from the free throw line. The Wildcats missed freebies both early and late in the game and the result proved to be fatal to Yates Centers state tournament hopes.
The free throw line really killed us, Graf said. We missed 10 free throws in an eight-point basketball game. Thats a pretty big deal.
The game never got out of hand and Colgans lead never eclipsed nine points but late in the fourth quarter, just five points can seem like 20.
The Wildcats say goodbye to three important seniors led by King who will go down as one of the best to play at Yates Center, points guard Nolan Jones who led the Wildcats in scoring Saturday with 11 and Hadley Splechter whose defense and intensity has helped set the tone for the Wildcats this year.
This senior class is so special, Graf said. As a coach, you just always dream to have seniors like this. Great leadership, great basketball players, theyve been very dedicated but even more than all of that, theyre just good people. Im very blessed and I love this group. This coaching year has been the most fun that Ive ever had and Ive been doing it awhile.
For the Wildcats, the feeling is mutual.
Graf came into the season after former head coach Tanner Davis left for a new job.
Its been unexpected, King said of the Wildcats success the past several years. Coming in as a freshman, I wasnt very strong on either end of the court. But before my freshman summer, Coach Graf, who wasnt the coach at the time, came up to me and said, Lets go to work, and he developed me. So the fact that he got to coach me this last season has been unbelievable. This year has just been awesome. It didnt go down like we wanted but we played as an amazing team. Theyre (Pittsburg-Colgan) always just solid but we gave them a good fight and I guess thats all you can ask for.
