Yoemen get past Rockdale, Lady Yoe fall short

Regardless of records, rivalries games can tend to be a tad bit unpredictable and are generally always close. We got a pair of those on Friday night from Tiger Gym in Rockdale as the Lady Yoe fell short 51-44, while the Yoemen pulled away late for a 62-57 win.

The girls hung tight with Rockdale at the half, tied at 22 all, but could not keep pace down the stretch. The loss drops Cameron to 13-14 overall and 1-6 after the first round of 20-3A play. The ladies were scheduled to play Academy on the road on Tuesday, but weather concerns caused the cancellation of school, which pushed back all sporting events. That game was made up on Wednesday, along with the boys, and we will have a full report in next week’s edition of sports.

Meanwhile, the Yoemen improved to 14-9 overall and more importantly to 4-1 in 20-3A with two games remaining in the first half of district action.

Cameron built an impressive 24-13 lead after one but actually trailed 33-32 at the half. The hot start proved the be crucially important as they game was back and forth through the final two periods, with Cameron up just 45-44 after three before creating more distance in the final minutes.

“It was really important,” said Burns on the opening quarter. “The theme for our season has been getting off to slow starts and then turning it on in the second half or vise versa. I felt like we played our best game of the season and sometimes it takes a rival to get the best out of you.”

Rockdale did have a higher shooting percentage - 44 to 36 percent - but it was Cameron that executed at the free-throw line, making nearly 70 percent of those shots on the night.

“We shot 69 percent form the free throw line, which was really good for us,” said Burns. “I told our team that we are athletic enough and we should be getting to the free throw line. We won the rebound, assist, steal, and deflection categories. I think that is the first game where we met all of our goals.”

Rockdale’s star quarterback Torry Locklin also proved to be hard to handle on the hard court as well, coming in with 23 points, but Cameron’s defense forced 13 steals on the night.

“Our defensive intensity got to them a little bit,” said Burns. “They are a great team and Locklin is a really great player who scored 23 points on us. Dondrick Moore stepped up really big. He took a charge against Locklin in the third quarter and that shook him up.”

Dondrick Moore led Cameron in scoring with 16 points. Levi May (15), Kobe Young (13) and Dre Booze (12) balanced the scoring, all coming in with double figures.

The win took off some of the sting from the big loss to the Tigers in football, where many of the same players were involved.

“Some of boys had already lost to Rockdale in football, so they had extra motivation,” Burns said. “It was a back and forth and game, but it had a lot of playoffs implications. It keeps us right there in second.”

20-3A Girls Basketball Results from Friday: Rockdale 51 Cameron Yoe 44; Jarrell 55 Franklin 44; Rogers 48 Hearne 26; Academy 61 Lexington 22

20-3A Girls Basketball Standings: 1. Academy (7-0), 2. Franklin (5-2), 2. Rockdale (5-2), 4. Jarrell (4-3), 5. Lexington (3-4), 5. Rogers (3-4); 7. Cameron Yoe (1-6), 8. Hearne (0-7)

20-3A Boys Basketball Results from Friday: Cameron Yoe 62 Rockdale 57; Jarrell 79 Franklin 35; Academy 62 Lexington 32; Hearne 54 Rogers 40

20-3A Boys Basketball Standings: 1. Jarrell (4-0), 2. Cameron Yoe (4-1), 3. Franklin (3-2), 3. Hearne (3-2), 5. Rockdale (2-3), 5. Academy (2-3), 7. Rogers (1-4), 8. Lexington (0-5).