Congratulations to Greg Wise whose Yates High School basketball team beat Lee High by the unbelievable score of 170-35, in a game that was marred (understandably) by a second half brawl.
According to this Houston Chronicle article, Yates was leading 100-12 at half-time.
I coached my son’s travel team (a B level squad) a couple years ago, and we encountered a team from Mt. Prospect that was instantly recognizable as much more talented that we were. They belonged in the A side of the league without question.
They half-court zone trapped us and our kids had trouble getting the ball past the free throw line-extended. We tried a couple different screens and things, but their kids were bigger, stronger and quicker. They built about a 2o point lead in the first quarter, shooting only lay-ups as I recall. The lead continued to grow and the press stayed on. I got teed-up by the officials early on who also weren’t giving our kids a break despite the score. My kids parents were hollering at the other coach (who was a hired gun, not a parent). I thought long and hard about pulling my kids off the floor at half-time and simply leaving the gym, but I worried about what message that would send to them and how much grief I’d get from the parents.
Into the second half we went, with a couple other things in mind, thinking that our opponents would be sporting and run a little zone or a man-to-man or something other than the half-court zone trap, secure in the knowledge that they were going to win the game by a comfortable margin no matter what defense they played.
Out we went. Zone trap. They zone trapped for the entire game. I couldn’t believe it. No relief, no mercy, no sportsmanship. There was nearly a fist fight with a couple parents and my fellow coach. The other guy was smirking and proud of his kids. He cited some of the same things that Coach Wise noted, too. Which of course doesn’t make it right.
I was very proud of our kids for putting up with it, and have felt bad for not having spared them the humiliation since. If I had it to do again, I’d have loaded up the bus at the half and explained later. I’d forgotten how bad that felt until I read the story of Yates and Lee. No kid signs up for that. The presence of “national rankings” for high school doesn’t help this and this clown that coaches the Yates team is just trying to build his cred. He should be ashamed (but isn’t) and disciplined and maybe fired, but, it being Texas where the even the assholes are bigger, he probably won’t.
The Local Paper 
Follow-up: The “Go Figure” column in the Jan 18th edition of Sports Illustrated contained information on this game and noted the “achievement” of Yates in scoring 100 points before halftime. Great news. National publicity. At least SI didn’t mention their opponent. Unfortunately, all those kids at Lee will know. And now you do, too.