Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 1:47 pm  |  20 responses

Yates’ 170-35 Win Leads To Controversy

Did Yates HS show poor sportsmanship?

Nationally ranked Yates HS from Houston won once again in blowout fashion on Tuesday night. No one seems surprised by the score as they are ranked top 5 by just about every scouting service out there. The outcry and controversy comes by those questioning the team’s sportsmanship. Yates held a 100-32 lead against Lee HS at halftime. Yet the team’s five starters were out there playing in the second half. After a fight broke out in the third quarter following an intentional foul on a Lee player, the referees ordered both coaches to stay with same five players for the remaining of the game.  But it didn’t seem to help out Lee much as they only scored three points in the second half. Yates HS is averaging 119 points per game and has scored more than 100 points eight times this season. The team has a 14-0 record and is on a 39-game winning streak.

The defending state champs’ 170 points broke the single-state record for most points in a game previously held by Hardin-Jefferson’s 166 points in 1992. Lee’s coach Jacques Armant found the blowout very disrespectful.  “I feel very disrespected right now,” Lee coach Armant told the Houston Chronicle. “I don’t understand why Yates just kept scoring and pressing when they were up so much. These are kids. It isn’t good to do that to other young men.” The game has caught so much national media attention that Yates head coach Greg Wise was in ESPN’s First Take trying to explain his side.  FYI, the national record for most points in a game is 211 set by Grand Avenue of De Quincy, Louisiana back in 1964.

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  • Jarrett Imamura

    I saw Yates play here in the Iolani Classic. Too bad I didn’t get to see them score 100 or more. I guess that other teams didn’t turn it over as much.

  • gregmq

    Sounded like yates wanted to play to their full potentional during the entire game. While I applaud houston lee for not throwing in the towel, they’re at fault that they couldnt keep up with the pace of yates’ basketball skills.

  • Vince5

    170 pts and a 135 pts lead? That’s pretty good.

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    Has SLAM ever wrote about these kids before?

  • fut.

    I really find it hard reading these stories. I don’t know if its part of US culture or something but in Australia, if you are completely dominating a team for the game you are culturally expected keep it up and make a statement. Make a scoreline memorable.

    If they were doing behind the back oops and trying to show-off, then there is a respect issue but if the other team continues to play at the same level that brought them their lead, tip your hat and pay respect for their play. Whinging because you were totally outclassed is just pathetic. Use it as a measure for your team and continue life.

  • http://slamonline.com Polow Da Jon

    How is this even possible in a high school game? Isnt there only 32 minutes in a high school game?

  • d.j.

    If you felt they were showing off and running up the score you put in a scrub of the bench and you take out their superstar son, who cares if your 12th man gets ejected.. thats how its done i bet you the alleys and behind the backs stop quick after that… its what you do in football when the quarter back is running up the score, you take him out… i know some haters are gonna get on now and be like “u have no class” neither does the other team running full court pressure while up by 100+

  • michael scorn

    We get mad at coaches for losing too much, but we get mad at coaches for winning by too much. WTF

  • bryan iman

    im in 7th qrade when my friend told me this i was like wtf. they sure did have their qame sliders up(2k10)

  • http://www.youtube.com/ L

    Wow. How is that possible? Houston only scored 3. 3! Points in the 2nd half? Wow.

  • michael scorn

    I blame the athletic director at the school for scheduling such a tough game.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    They should’ve known it was coming by scheduling such a tough game.
    @fut. Speak for yourself! If you’re up pressing and trapping late in the 4th quarter and you’re up by anything more than 50, that’s disgusting. That’d be reason enough for a team to file a complaint to the head of school, the school conference and the other relevant people. I know for a fact that if my team was in a similar situation we’d either walk off the court and refuse to play, or we’d get ejected from flagrant fouling any steal>lay-up as the result of pressing.
    If you’re simply playing strong overall defense by denying passing lanes, pressuring ball-handlers in the half-court and forcing shot-clock TO’s, then fine. By all means, have a guy run out and cherry pick. But for gawd’s sake, let the opposition get it over half-court.

  • nastierthanu

    No place in sports for this type of behavior. High school doesn’t have a bcs game. If u have a cupcake on the schedule then rest your starters I’m sure that there won’t be any problems with fans complaining to the booster club attempting to get there 3 bucks back.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    That’s like NBA live on easy playin with the 1990′s all-stars vs. The New Jersey Nets…insane…

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    The national record for pts in a highschool game is 210 though…now that’s unreal…

  • horsey

    32 points at halftime plus 2 points in the second half…plus 1 point for style? regardless, yates to cover the spread with the overs. got it.

  • baller

    people need to stop crying about the score it’s not yates’ fault that the team they were scheduled to play sucked. when you give up 170 points to any team, i dont care who it is, it isnt a lack of talent, its a lack of effort.

  • specs

    The backups have just as much right to work their ass off as anyone else. It’s not their fault if the other team doesn’t have the stones to keep up and stop them. If I was one of those backups I’d be damned if I slowed down. It’s the other team’s job to stop them, not their job to slow down so the other kids can keep up.

  • Billy The T

    Game wasn’t optional.

    They are in the same league. They have to play each other twice (second game is at the end of the month).

    Yates is one of the top five teams in the country and the coach wanted to run it up and break the state record.

    Will be try to break 200 and get the national record next time?

  • http://www.flagrantfouls.com Nolan

    You can look at this from two perspectives. On one hand, when you lead by 70 points in the 4th, picking up full court doesn’t scream sportsmanship. On the other hand, great teams play 32 minutes as hard as they can at all times. Teaching your kids to let up doesn’t prepare them for battle. Yates is trying to win a state championship. Every minute of court time counts as a learning experience and a lesson in execution. Tough Call. Not sure how I feel about it.

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