Cardinals Miss Final Shot, Fall Short

WAITSBURG -- The WP Cardinals were defeated, 47-49, in the final minutes of last Tuesday's matchup against the Weston McEwen Tigerscots.

The Cardinals were first to put points on the board when Justin Zuger found Dustin Wooderchak cutting through the lane for two points.

The Tigerscots quickly answered when Riley Sederburg beat WP's Billy Brown baseline for two, followed by a Ron Terjeson steal that Elliot Salter put in for two to give the Tigerscots the lead for just a moment.

WP's Zach Bartlow took it to the hole twice and Dustin Wooderchak sank two free throws to put the Cards up, 10-6, and would remain on top of the Tigerscots until well into the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals went on a scoring spree the first two minutes of the second quarter with a bucket from Bartlow, two more free throws from Wooderchak, and back-to-back three pointers from Sterling Eastman and Dalton Estes.

The Tigerscots finally answered with two buckets of their own, but WP's Eastman hit his second three pointer to bring the Cardinals lead to 25-15 with 3 minutes left in the half.

The Tigerscots' offense utilized their rebounding to add five more first-half points before the buzzer, but the Cardinals remained on top, 27-20, going into the locker room.

WP's Dalton Estes came out of the locker room with a vengeance, stealing a Tigerscot pass early on and taking it all the way for two. He then followed that up with a three-point bucket.

Wooderchak once again went two-for-two from the line before Dalton Estes found Brown with a backdoor dish for two to extend the Cardinal lead, 36-24.

The Cardinals were sitting pretty until Weston McEwen's Sederburg came to life, scoring six unanswered points to narrow WP's lead, 36-30.

Bartlow found Brown down low for two, but Weston McEwen answered and the Cardinals ended the third quarter with a narrow 38-32 lead.

Dalton Estes once again began the scoring off in the fourth quarter drawing the foul on a fast-break lay-up and sinking his free throw for a 41-32 WP lead.

Estes wasn't done there. He got his hands on a Tigerscot inbounds pass and banked it in for two from underneath.

Wooderchak then found Eshom Estes down low for another Cardinal bucket but the Tigerscots came to life scoring ten unanswered points to tie the game at 45.

Eshom Estes broke the tie with a jumper from the top of the key, but Weston McEwen's Dallas Reich was fouled on his way to the hoop, sinking that bucket and his free throw to put the Tigerscot back on top, 48- 47, with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

We s ton McEwens ' s Terjeson fouled Zuger, sending him to line. But Zuger missed the front end of his one-and-one and the Tigerscots rebounded the ball.

They missed their next two shots before the Cardinals deflected the ball out of bounds with 19.3 seconds left. Wooderchak fouled to stop the clock on the Tigerscots inbounds play and Reich hit his first free throw, but missed his second.

WP's Bartlow took the rebound the length of the floor but couldn't connect on his lay-up and fouled a Tigerscot to stop the clock with 5.6 seconds left. The Cardinals got the ball inbounded to their trusty three point shooter Eastman, but the ball banked off the rim and the Cardinals came up short at the buzzer, 47-49.

Dalton Estes lead the Cardinals with 15 points and four steals.

Bartlow added 13 points and 14 rebounds and as a team the Cards shot 42 percent from the field while keeping turnover down to 15. The Cardinals face the Asotin Panthers Friday, Jan. 6 in Asotin at 7:30 p.m.