So if you didn't know the state of Texas has a rich tradition of powerhouse basketball down here, especially in the H! Extending back to the late fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties; basketball, especially inner city ball, has always produced great players and games! To names like “Cadillac" Anderson, Don "Popeye" Caleb Sr. (yeah that's right my pops got it in back in his day), Clyde "The Glide" Drexler, Rashard Lewis, Chris "Birdman" Andersen and the list can go on and on! But last night though that great basketball tradition was almost revisited when two historic basketball powerhouses took the floor at HISD's Delmar Fieldhouse. Tradition vs. tradition, school vs. school, and neighborhood vs. neighborhood... it was classic, epic to say the least. Yates met perhaps their stiffest competition that they may have ever faced in the Coach Greg Wise era as Fifth Ward's finest; the Wheatley Wildcats gave them the closest run for their money! Both teams playing at a breakneck pace, pressing, trapping and putting up points…it was a test of will and skills last night but in the end Yates reigned supreme! It's not that Wheatley doesn't have the talent. With great play from seniors Ketryn Briggs (12pts 5 rebs) and Trent Davis (8pts; what up fam?), the Wheatley Wildcats led by Coach Marcus Elder (Beta Upsilon member of Kappa Alpha Psi) scored the most points against Yates that perhaps any opponent has scored in a long time! The final score ended up at 109-95; hampered by turnovers (22) the Wheatley Wildcats seemed too eager at times to keep the game in their control.
Yates was also plagued by turnovers themselves (24) but with all five starters scoring in double figures and anchored in the middle by a junior big man with 31 points and 16 rebounds, the Wildcats could do little to content with his all-star effort. The Wildcats did have their own all-star on the floor also with junior guard Ruston Hayward dropping 25 points and 10 rebounds of his own, but outside of Hayward and Rashawn Myers chipping in 14 points of his own in the end the Lions were the last to have the loudest roar! According to Coach Elder of Wheatley, the Wildcats were a little too eager to pull out the victory and that eagerness added to them attempting to do more than what was needed from them! The Wildcats did a great job of studying the Lions of Jack Yates and learning what works best for them against the Lions, but we have to remember that the Yates Lions have built a consistent program under Coach Wise and he has taken that program to great heights and sometimes scrutiny! If we remember last year the Lions were so dominant in HISD play that they scored a state’s best 170 points against a lowly Scarborough team…or was it Lee? It doesn't matter who it was against. What does matter is that the Yates program has always been packed with talent and the kids that are starting this year were on the bench last year and the year before that as they trounced through the city and state. Now don't get me wrong Coach Elder has done a great job in his, still, young tenure with the Wildcats and has steadily built a program around talented players and scrappy kids from a great program and school. Me myself, I am a bit more partial to Wheatley because I have family that has been running the floor for the Cats (what's good Trent and D. Wade?) and will always be a Wildcat supporter as long as my family runs the floor and my frat leads the team, but I do have to be fair here and congratulate the Lions on their victory and give them my blessings as they represent the H and the Southside of Texas (I'm Mo. City born and raised). But the loss stings down to my heart and soul because I know my two little cousins wanted the victory!
I can feel their pain and anguish as they looked to complete their senior year of high school with that victory under their belts, but keep your heads up Wildcats…the season is still young and with the talent pool that you all have developed will carry you to a great season! To Coach Wise and the Yates Lions: Continue to look towards your bright futures and as the nation frowns upon a school from the inner city, historically black neighborhood of Third Ward, Texas, let them know that the game is alive and well down south and we ain't all horses, cowboys and Podunk’s down here! We can hoop too dammit! Come see us down here because we are waiting for you…it ain't safe in these Houston streets for the non-believers. Mess around and you might end up with your shit busted like Cortland Finnegan (because Dre beat the F out of him!).
I love both schools and both hoods and continue to pray for you all’s success. Big ups to Coach Wise and to Coach Elder…continue to "Achieve" Phi and teach our young men about, "Achievement in every field of human endeavor!" This is The King signing out...I say, “Yo,” dammit…