Harrison twins and Burnet convert down the stretch to grab opener
Katy – With hopes of another undefeated season, the Yates Lions rolled into Katy for its season opener against a talented Fort Bend Travis squad.
With less than 58 seconds to go, Fort Bend Travis’ defense forced a couple stops and guard John Burnett converted a fast-break layup to give the Fort Bend Travis Tigers all they would need to shock top ranked Yates Lions 77-69 on Monday night in the RCS season opener presented by Nike at the Merrell Center.
The win answered many questions for the Tigers who had holes to fill.
Burnett on JV last season was the driving force behind the win. The speedy Burnett who accounted for 16 points burned the Lions time after time on breakaway layups, which were timely baskets. Leading scorers Aaron and Andrew Harrison combined for 41 points and Kyle Coulter added 11 who all ultimately played a big role in the victory as well.
“We had to keep playing, we knew they were going to make runs, and we were going to make runs. We just kept fighting through it. The key in the fourth quarter was not to get tire. We knew they were going to press us all game. Many of our teammates had easy finishes; John Burnett played a great game”, said the Harrison twins, Aaron and Andrew of Fort Bend Travis.
Throughout the fourth quarter, the game was still up in the air until the Tigers forced Yates to go scoreless on two consecutive possessions.
Fort Bend Travis (1-0) entered the game as the 15th ranked team in the nation according to (Powerade/ESPN) and the No 2 team state wide behind Flower Mound Marcus (by Texas Hoops). Yates (0-1), the top ranked team in the state’s class 4A polls according to Texas Hoops and comes in at No 17 nationally in MaxPreps polls.
The Tigers sprinted out to a Travis 5-0 lead when Kyle Coulter nailed a trey from the right baseline followed by Aaron Harris layup. Lion’s gifted sophomore Melvin Swift’s dunk brought the Yates fans to its feet with the score the score 5-2 before Travis ran off four answered points to hold a 9-2. Moments later Clyde Santee drained a trey and Dotson’s jumper drew the Lions within one at 10-9. Yates, now into its running game got back-to-back 3-pointers from the 6’7” shooter Santee to lead 17-12 after the one quarter.
Aaron Harrison opened the second quarter with a dunk before Santee connected on his fourth 3-pointer of the game to give Yates the short lead 22-17. Not long after, Swift got his second highlight dunk of the game with a foul to follow.
Trailing 24-17, Andrew Harrison converter four consecutive free throws to pull the Tigers within three points, 24-23 with 5:58 to go.
“They came out and played like men (Fort Bend Travis), said Jawaan McClellan Yates assistant coach, and you have to give the twins credit (Aaron and Andrew Harrison). They’re two great players, they’re making their other teammates play better, their rallying their team around them and you can tell on the floor their good leaders and their tough to defend. We didn’t come out and play hard tonight. Our players unfortunately didn’t step up.
The young loaded Lions struggled on offense at times, allowing Fort Bend Travis to take the lead 28-27 on Coulter’s layup. However, Yates responded with Swift’s tomahawk dunk while guards Kenya Jackson and Damion Lewis knock down treys from the right wing to grab a 38-32 lead with 1:13 to go in the quarter. At the half, the Tigers trailed 38-37.
An action filled third quarter watched the Lions hold a 58-52 entering the fourth.
Burnett and Andrew Harrison converted back-to-back close range baskets to draw within one, 58-57. It didn’t help the Lions cause when Santee fouled out with 6:29 to go which led Yates in scoring with 17. Aaron Harrison was good on one of two free throws, tying the game at 58.
Yates, who hadn’t scored since the third quarter, ended it on Damyeon Dotson’s mid-range jumper, resulting in a 60-58 Lions lead. The lead changes continued when the Tigers scored five unanswered points. Aaron Harrison’s layup and Coulter, who was the starting QB for the Tigers football team, netted a trey from the right baseline as he turned and signal to Texan’s WR Andre Johnson who attended, sitting near the court, “this one is for you”. That gave Fort Bend Travis a 63-60 lead. An in effective Yates press led to several Tiger fast break points and the fact that twins Aaron and Andrew would drive the lane drawing fouls, converting layups and finishing at the charity stripe.
Fort Bend Travis Twin duo guards, Aaron and Andrew Harrison said, “Everybody stepped up, everybody played very hard. We were excited to get the win and move on to the next game. Nobody believed in us, but I knew, us 12 could do it; we’ve practice hard all year.”
