Following a record-setting 34-0 season capped by a Texas Class 4A state title,
Yates (Houston, Texas) has been named MaxPreps.com’s 2009-10 high school basketball national champion.
Yates finished in the lead of a final MaxPreps/National Guard Xcellent 25 top five that included No. 2 St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.), No. 3 Ames (Ames, Iowa), No. 4 Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.) and No. 5 Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.).
Joseph Young
File photo by Jim Redman
The Lions set big goals prior to the season and treated every opponent like an extremely unwelcome threat to their dream. Head coach Greg Wise took fire as lopsided scores piled up and his team attacked for 32 minutes every night out.
“We feel like we are the best team in the country,” Wise told MaxPreps last November. “That is our mindset. We want to go out every night and not only beat teams, but teams decisively.”
The philosophy resulted in a win streak that now spans 58 games, back-to-back state championships and a signature number for the NFHS Record Book – 116.2 points per game, a new national record.
It also produced late-game surges against Pennsylvania state champion Neumann-Goretti and Lancaster in the Texas 4A title game that seemed to validate Wise’s decision to never take the foot off the gas.
“That was our mindset from the first day of practice,” Wise said Monday. “We wanted to prove we were the best team in the country. We were fortunate enough to participate in two national tournaments in Hawaii and Alabama. That provided us the opportunity to showcase our team on the national stage.”
Head coach Greg Wise
File photo by Jim Redman
The Lions beat Neumann-Goretti in the finals of the Iolani Classic in Hawaii, 97-96. Yates trailed by double-digits late in the fourth quarter, but roared back against the team ranked No. 4 in today's final Xcellent 25.
The next week, Yates crushed defending Alabama 5A state champion Huntsville Butler in the nationally-televised final of the T-Mobile Invitational in Birmingham. Senior guard Joseph Young poured in 29 points in the first half and wound up with 43 en route to tournament MVP honors.
Young, a 6-foot-2 sharpshooter headed to Providence, averaged a team-best 25.6 points per game with Western Kentucky-bound senior guard Brandon Peters close behind at 25.5. Both were Texas Association of Basketball Coaches 4A All-State selections. Five other players were regular double-digit scorers as the pressing defense and quick-shot offense resulted in point totals of 170, 163 and 154 among 14 games of 120 points or more.
Much print was devoted to victory margins that routinely reached 50 and 60 points, and peaked with a controversial, 135-point beating of Houston Lee on Jan. 5.
Brandon Peters
File photo by Jim Redman
“The system that we have, you have to play hard,” Wise said. “No one else in the country is doing what we are doing for 32 minutes. We play hard from the beginning to the end.”
The arguments about sportsmanship and running-it-up can be saved for another day. This team is held up as something very positive at a school where students eligible for free lunch have been reported as high as 70 and 80 percent in recent years.
“Being a Yates Lion, it’s special,” Young said. “All the hard work we did from the beginning of the season, all the way back to the beginning of our 11th grade year … we wanted to be the best team in the country.”
“You wouldn’t believe all the support that we’ve been given,” Wise said. “It’s been unreal at times.”
Yates' final game was played in front of a state-tournament record 16,755 fans at the Erwin Center in Austin. The Lions provided a fitting end to a history-making season, rattling off a 21-1 run in the final three minutes against Lancaster to take a 92-73 victory.
The program's commitment to all 32 minutes paid off.
{VIDEO_4a24e3ae-4a48-40f7-bf56-232630324765,floatRightWithBar}Yates' historic season will be recognized and honored by the MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the National Guard at a parade in Houston Saturday.
