YATES CENTER — Yates Center High’s boys were able to stay afloat after an early scoring drought against Oswego Monday.
But another dry spell to start the second period was too much to overcome.
Oswego put together an 18-0 run while Yates Center went scoreless for the first 6½ minutes of the second period, putting the Wildcats in a 25-6 hole.
The Wildcats rallied in the second half, but drew no closer 15 in a 50-26 loss.
Monday’s game had been pushed back from last week because of snow, and moved from Oswego to Yates Center. That means the Feb. 6 rematch will now be in Oswego instead of Yates Center.
Neither team was able to do much early. Yates Center’s Evan McVey scored on a driving layup at the 3:24 mark of the first quarter to notch the Wildcats’ first points of the game. Gavin Busteed scored twice later in the period as Yates Center stayed within 9-6 at the end of the break.
But shots were hard to buy in the second quarter. McVey’s 3-pointer finally broke the skid with 1:30 left in the half, but it did little to slow Oswego’s momentum. The Indians rattled off eight more points before Busteed scored on a 3-point play late in the half to make it 33-12.
Ben Cook scored twice early in the third quarter before Jeremiah Jones, Jacob Smoot and Marcus Cummings added field goals as part of an 11-5 run to slice Oswego’s lead to 38-23.
But the Indians scored six straight to end the period and re-establish a 44-23 lead.
Busteed scored seven to lead the Wildcats, followed by Cook and McVey with five each, Smoot with four, Jones three and Cummings two.
Yates Center was slated to visit Southern Coffey County Tuesday and go to Marmaton Valley Friday.
