Boys Suffer Narrow Losses

ASOTIN - Dayton boys struggled to retain a winning edge in their last two away games against Waitsburg and Asotin over the weekend. Their heartbreaking twopoint 36-34 loss to the Cardinals Friday came with less than a minute before the end of the game.

In Asotin on Saturday, the Panthers got a quick jump on the Bulldogs and the Dayton boys just couldn't keep up after that, trailing until the final whistle sealed Asotin's win 67-51.

Panther Ben Servatius came out hot in the first quarter, shooting six for nine and scoring 14 points for Asotin. He followed that up with three for six, scoring seven points in the second quarter to help the Panthers.

Bulldog Garett Turner scored high numbers for Dayton, with 23 points during the evening's game, but Asotin's Servatius hit 31 total points and overall the Panthers hit 26 of their 48 shots. With help from teammate Drew Heitstuman and others, the Panthers came out on top, 67-51.

Servatius shot 10 for 19 from the floor, three threepointers and six for eight from the charity line. Turner shot 8 for 20 from the floor with two three-pointers and five for five from the charity line.O

ther Bulldogs Jason Norris and Colton Bickelhaupt each scored eight points for Dayton in the Asotin game. Hayden Fullerton followed close behind with seven points.

Boys head coach Roy Ramirez attributed Saturday night's loss to fatigue after playing a "tough" game against Waitsburg-Prescott the night before.

In Waitsburg, the Bulldogs were neck and neck for most of the game against the Cardinals. Even at the beginning of the third quarter, the teams were 19 - 19. But the Cardinals just seemed hungrier during the second half.

After Bickelhaupt got his team ahead 34-32 with about two minutes to go in the fourth, Cardinal Matt Hamilton evened the score at 34-34. Moments later, his teammate Dustin Wooderchak stole the ball and laid it up for the lead, leaving the Bulldogs just half a minute before the buzzer. They did not score to push the game into overtime.

"It was a physical ball game on both sides," Bulldogs assistant coach Clayton Strong said after the game. "We didn't distribute the basketball like we normally like. We've passed better. We just got to learn how to win these close games."

The game against WP was the third tight game in a row for the Bulldogs who lost by five points against Riverview and won by 6 points against TOR. Their record is now 3-3.T

he Bulldogs host an alumni exhibition game Monday, Dec. 27, at 7:30 p.m. The holiday tournament at Helix takes place just before New Year's - Dec. 28 and 29.