A Look Back at Yates Versus Kimball

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Hicks Take: A Look Back at Yates/Kimball

Ahmard Vital

Last weekend, the Dallas Kimball team made just a few more plays down the stretch than that of Houston Yates. In the end, the state Class 4A basketball title went home with Kimball with a 78-75 win in Austin at the University of Texas Frank Irwin Center.

What were some of the key factors in this game? How come the game ended up being this close? We ask Houston’s own basketball expert Jim Hicks of RCS Sports to get his thoughts on the game. He broke down a few key points…

“First, you have to start by giving credit to the Kimball team. Those guys played tough down the stretch,” Hick said. “For Yates, there is not just one thing that happened to explain how the Lions lost.”

Let’s go backwards.

Missed free throws: In the final minute, Yates had a five-point lead, which many would have thought that the Lions could hold on. But at the 45-second mark, Yates Chris Wells made the first of a one-and-one and then missed the second. The score at this point was 75-70 Yates. Kimball’s Torrey Henry nailed a three-pointer to close the gap to a two-point game. With 20 and 15 seconds left in the game, Darrion Martin and Damyean Dotson both missed the first of their one-and-one free throw chances. Henry came down and nailed another three with 12 seconds remaining. Yates never regained the lead.

“Those missed free throws were detrimental in the final 45 seconds,” Hicks said.

“Bold on the Stat Sheet”: Sure the missed free throws hurt the Lions, but scoring to Hicks, the game should not have been that closed based on what he calls an uncharacteristic entry on the stat sheet.

“Melvin Swift and Clyde Santee were combined 1-for-16. Clyde made only one shot and Swift did not even take a shot,” Hicks said. “That is uncharacteristic for two starters.”

Basically, Kimball shut down 40 percent of Yates scoring attack with that glaring statistic. And yes, those points were missed seeing that Santee was Yates’ leading scorer in postseason play, two games he scored over 30 points. And though Santee leaves the Yates program with this dismal final performance, he is the all-time leading winner in Yates history. He has 127 career wins to his credit.

Heavy Hearts: Coming into the match up, emotions were already running high amongst the Yates team. One of the players’ family suffered a tragedy before the game and there is no doubt that this was on the minds of each of them as told by Hicks.