News from the high school sports world

The Houston Chronicle brings us the latest lack-of-sportsmanship news:

The Yates High School boys basketball team set a state record and set itself up for controversy Tuesday night at Butler Fieldhouse.

The Lions beat Lee High School 170-35, setting the single-game state scoring record. Hardin-Jefferson had owned the record of 166 points since 1992.

But the Lions' brush with history was marred by a second-half scuffle and questions of sportsmanship.

In the third quarter, a fight erupted after an intentional foul was called on a Lee player. After breaking up the fight, the referees told both coaches they would have to play just five players the remainder of the game. The other players for both teams spent the rest of the second half sitting in the stands.

“I feel very disrespected right now,” Lee coach Jacques Armant said. “I don't understand why Yates just kept scoring and pressing when they were up so much. These are kids. It isn't good to do that to other young men.”

Yates, which led 100-12 at halftime, is 14-0 this season and has won 39 consecutive games. The 100 points in the first half is also a state record and the second-most ever in a boys high school basketball game.

It was the eighth time this season Yates scored more than 100 points and the sixth time the Lions won by more than 60. It was the first time this season Yates' margin of victory topped 100.

A couple different perspectives on 170-35

Here are a couple of coaches from the USA Today article:

Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) was last season's No. 1 in the final Super 25 rankings and is often on the winning ends of routs. Coach Michael Peck said his team plays an up-tempo game similar to Yates, but there are ways to keep routs in check.

"I don't know what he's trying to prove," Peck said. "I look at their roster, and they have a legitimate team. I can't see them losing the rest of their schedule. They play a lot like us with in-your-face defense. They have a senior-laden roster, and they may think this is their year to make a statement. My thing is, act like you've been there before. If we're up by 40 and we have our bench in, every one of those guys better play hard. But we won't trap on ball screens and do things like we normally do in our game plan."

No. 15-ranked Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) defeated Westminster 91-64 on Tuesday. Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said he didn't play his top six starters against the 4-9 team.

"I had them do cheerleading," McKnight said. "The guys who were my seventh through 17th men all played. It was a fundraiser for their school, and we were doing them a favor. You want to be compassionate, and this was a chance to get my other kids to play."

And here's a columnist from the Houston Press , who even *I* think is way over the top, starting with the first sentence:

It was the biggest rout since Hitler's Panzers took on Poland's cavalry, and showed about as much sportsmanship: The powerful, undefeated Yates High basketball creamed not-so-powerful Lee 170-35, pressing and gunning all the way.

The halftime score was Yates 100-12, so obviously the Lions couldn't take their foot off the gas for fear of a Lee comeback.

Yates coach Greg Wise, who we can only imagine was interviewed in between tripping old ladies with walkers and giggling, told the Houston Chronicle that his mad coaching skillz demanded no less than what happened.

"We practice running, pressing, trapping every day," he said, probably while he idly picked the wings off an insect. "If we get to a game and I tell them not to do what we do in practice, I am not coaching well. I am not leaving my starters in the whole game. We have 15 guys, and all 15 play."

Shades of former UH football coach (and sleazeball) John Jenkins, who used to complain that he got a bad rap for continuing to pass as his team won by scores like 95-21. His offense just wasn't designed not to score (against pathetically overmatched teams), he said.

Lee's coach admitted last night he felt "disrespected." He shouldn't: He's not the one who comes off looking like an a-hole.