Yates Center boys net win over Eureka

YATES CENTER — The key to Yates Center’s offense — to take full advantage of their team speed — was to slow down.
The Wildcats used patience on the offensive end to sprint to a 13-2 lead over visiting Eureka High Tuesday.
But Yates Center, and it’s pressure defense, became rushed in the second quarter, head coach Jason Weilert said.
“We just weren’t getting good shots and we were rushing them,” he said.
Eureka responded with with a 15-point second quarter to close Yates Center’s lead to two points, 19-17.
But the Wildcats returned to their proper offensive flow in the third and fourth quarters in what wound up being a 20-point victory, 48-28.
The win lifts Yates Center’s mark to 8-5 on the season as they prepare for their most grueling stretch of the season.
Starting with a game at Caney Valley Friday, the Wildcats will play five games in a week’s time.
They’ll play Burlington twice next week, plus games with Cherryvale and Humboldt.
“A week like that is good for us,” Weilert said. “You have to get ready to play good teams back-to-back like that.”
Yates Center’s press was effective at forcing turnovers and generally disrupting Eureka’s offense, Weilert said, particularly in the second half.
A 19-4 third-quarter run pushed Yates Center’s lead to 38-21, effectively erasing any suspense from there.
“We got a lot of steals, which led to easy buckets,” Weilert said.
Dalton Smith and Donald Bennett scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, to lead the Wildcats. Other statistics were unavailable.
Tyler Spore scored 10 to lead the Tornadoes.
Yates Center also won the junior varsity contest 22-15. Cassidy George led the Wildcat JV with seven points. All six players who participated in the two-quarter game wound up scoring.
Eureka (2-15-6-7—28) (FG/3-pt): Moore 0-0-5-0, S. Spore 0/2-0-1-6, S. Spore 5-0-1-10, Williams 0-0-3-0, Boyer 0-0-1-0, Kuhn 2-0-1-4, Holcomb 3-2-2-8, Fisher 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 10/2-2-15-28.
Yates Center (13-6-19-10—48) (FG/3-pt): George 0-0-2-0, Sicka 3-1-2-7, Bennett 5-5-2-15, Morrison 1-2-1-4, Knoblock 0-0-1-0, Francis 1-0-0-2, Stockebrand 2-0-0-4, Smith 6/1-1-3-16. TOTALS: 18/1-9-11-48.