Evidently Yates High School coach Greg Wise wasn’t kidding.
Four days after opening the season by scoring 140 points on Monday, the Houston and national power went for 23 more in a 163-71 triumph over Houston on Friday.
Ten players scored in double figures for the winners, ranked fourth nationally in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, led by 6-foot-2 senior Joe Young with 35 and 19 by Brandon Peters.
Eight others were between 10 and 18.
“We’re going to get better still, I promise,” Wise said.
That’s a little frightening.
Yates (2-0) wasn't quite satisfied with scoring 76 in the first half, so they went for 51 in the third quarter. Wise called off the press in the fourth quarter when the Lions scored “only” 36.
Asked about piling up the score and Wise said: “so far I haven’t heard a negative word about it,” he said. “Both coaches in fact have thanked me and told me it has only made them better.”
He’s not lying.
Dickinson, the team Yates beat 140-81 on Monday, has gone on to win three straight at the McDonald’s Texas Invitational, including a 74-68 win over perennial national power Duncanville on Friday.
“I got a text from (the Dickinson) coach today, thanking us for putting a whooping on them,” Wise said. “Those are his words, not mine.”
Wise said his team, the defending state 5A champs, have bigger fish to fry.
"We think we're the best team in the country and the boys want to prove it every time out," Wise said.