YATES CENTER — The Yates Center High boys bounced back from their loss earlier in the week and blew out Chetopa at home on Thursday, 71-16.
The Wildcats (5-13) gave a full team effort and defended and rebounded well until the final whistle. Every single Yates Center player scored a point in the win as well.
Emmit George sparked Yates Center’s offense early when he banked in four layups in the first quarter. Cash Cummings and Jarrett Birk also scored four points apiece in the first quarter for the Wildcats to take a 24-5 lead heading to the second.
Two Chetopa players Cuay Ross and Jackson Lawellin combined to score 12. Lawellin hit a three early while Ross posted a layup and a pair of free throws later on in the fourth.
The Yates Center defense was firing on all cylinders.
“I’m proud of how our guys bounced back from a tough loss on Tuesday,” said Yates Center head coach Lane Huffman. “We could’ve hung our heads and carried over poor attitudes into tonight but we didn’t. This was a great effort.”
Garrett Audiss scored six points in the second quarter for Yates Center to take a 35-point lead over Chetopa at halftime, 42-7.
Birk put up a trio of two-point baskets and a free throw to start the third and Cummings scored four more points.
Yates Center led Chetopa heading to the fourth, 60-10.
“The highlight of the night was every player scored a basket,” Huffman said. “It was a team effort all the way to the end. We defended and rebounded well, which are two things we’ve hit hard in practice. We hope to take this effort into our senior night game.”
Cam DeWitt sank a three and Taylor Camacho posted a pair of layups in the fourth quarter to sink Chetopa by a final score of 71-16.
The Wildcats were led offensively by Birk’s 15-point performance, followed by Cummings and Audiss’s 11 points apiece and George’s 10 points. Camacho chipped in seven points.
Yates Center hosted Crest on Friday night. Results were not available at the time of publication.
