Matt Wixon

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The Houston Yates boys basketball team is expected to win a second straight 4A state title next month. It could finish undefeated, be No. 1 in the nation and cement itself as one of the state's best teams ever.

But even if that happens, Yates might be better known for something else:

170-35.

That was the score of Yates' win over Houston Lee last month. Yates' total broke a state record for points in a game, and to some people, the total broke a longstanding rule of good sportsmanship.

After all, the halftime score was 100-12. And in the second half, Yates continued pressing, forcing turnovers and rolling up its total.

"We could've scored 250 points that night," Yates coach Greg Wise told the Houston Chronicle. "We didn't run up the score."

That was a nice message to the Lee players. Forget the state record, guys, we could've broken the national record of 211 against you.

Amazingly, though, Yates probably could have. Wise, who did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story, used all 15 players on his roster in the first quarter. But his team, which is immensely talented and well-coached, probably doesn't belong on the same court as Lee. Not this season, anyway.

It's harsh, but true. And it's also true about teams in the Dallas area. Remember last season when the Covenant School girls team made national news by shutting out Dallas Academy, 100-0? This season, we've had games decided by scores such as 76-11, 110-39 and 77-2. And those don't include games played by the Skyline girls, who've won by scores of 61-5 and 77-3.

"It's never our intent to run up the score," Skyline coach Cassandra McCurdy said. "Never."

You can tell that's not Skyline's intent. Sometimes, however, there's only so much you can do. Games get lopsided quickly in districts where the good and bad teams are as different as the NBA and the YMCA adult league.

But 170-35? Does that really have to happen?

We'll get back to that. For now, however, consider that lopsided games can put a lot of pressure on the winning coach.

For one thing, a coach doesn't want backup players to think they're getting trash minutes late in a game. The players work hard in practice and spend lots of time on the bench, so coaches don't want to tell them to burn precious playing time by draining the clock.

And sometimes that might humiliate a struggling team. The Kimball boys were winning by 50 points in the fourth quarter recently, and coach Royce Johnson told his players to hold on to the ball and stop scoring.

"It looked like we were trying to rub it in their faces by pulling the ball out and not shooting," Johnson said. "I looked at the faces of the players [on the other team] and it looked kind of demoralizing for them. They wanted to play."

Coaches also want to maximize each game as playoff preparation, and whether a game is tight or a laugher, their teams need to practice their style of play. In the case of Yates, that means full-time, full-court pressure defense.

"We are looking for another state championship," Wise said in the Chronicle, "and we can't get that unless we are continuing to get better and perfect our game."

Certainly. But considering Yates' deep roster, wouldn't a scrimmage in practice be better preparation than rolling up 154, 163 or 170 points against an overwhelmed opponent? When you're up by triple digits, can anything be learned?

Well, maybe. Two weeks after the 170-point game, Yates was blowing out Houston Westbury in the final minutes. But it didn't look like Yates would make it to 100 points for the seventh straight game, so Yates began fouling Westbury players to give them free throws and get the ball back. Pretty ridiculous.

Johnson, who has spoken to Wise since that game, said the Yates coach was disappointed that his players began fouling like that. I'm sure that's true. But when you create a full-throttle, brake-for-nobody culture, maybe some of the basketball integrity gets lost in the speed smear.

And that's when a coach has to step in.

"What are we in this for as coaches?" McCurdy said. "To teach."

Part of that teaching is how to find an opponent's weakness, exploit it, and win. But part of that teaching is also sportsmanship, which includes putting yourself in the position of the opponent you are defeating.

Hopefully, learning both is more important than setting a scoring record.