Lions defense wear down Wheatley, Santee takes home MVP
After dropping the title match a year ago to Westbury Christian, the Lions out-score Wheatley 22-19 in the fourth quarter to come away with a punishing 99-72 victory over its cross-town rival in the 72nd Annual Houston ISD Boys Basketball Tournament on Saturday night at Delmar Field house.
Such defeat was the second against the Wildcats this season. In the first meeting, less than a month ago, Yates overcame a series of double figure runs to knock off Wheatley, 97-84.
It was also marked the most lopsided win between the two, since Yates (14-3) won 96-79 on its way to its first state title in 2009, since joining the UIL.
Yates Post player, Clyde Santee was the MVP of the tournament. Joining Santee on the all-tournament team were, post JC Washington, Guards Hakim Davis, and Walnut Martin. Surrounding teams included Wheatley’s threesome of post players, Ruston Hayward, Tavario Miller, and super-star guard Josh Gray. The Village school finished third and had two players on the all-tournament team, center Shaquille O’Neal Cleare and guard Isaiah Taylor and Houston Sterling’s sharp-shooting guard, Jason Hawthorne.
The pressing style of Yates defense produced a 7-0 run to start the game. The battled tested Lions who’ve lost to three national ranked opponents, including Fort Bend Travis, Flower Mound Marcus and Westbury Christian forced 15 first half turnovers to grab the momentum and dictate the pace throughout the game.
For the Wildcats, turnovers, Yates quickness, and cold shooting were overwhelming and eventually took its toll down the stretch.