Cards Fall At Buzzer For Third Time This Season

ASOTIN -- The WP Cardinals battled against the Asotin Panthers last Friday night, but came up short in the final minutes once again, ending the game, 45-49.

WP's Billy Brown won the tip off once and lit up the board for the Cards with a baseline bank shot.

WP's Justin Zuger found Brown under the hoop for two more and Dustin Wooderchak got his hands on the next Panther shot denying his opponent a basket.

Wooderchak then went three-for-four from the line as the Panthers couldn't beat him to the hole on his drive to the hoop.

WP's Sterling Eastman sank a bucket to add two more, but the Cardinals were beat baseline on the Panthers' next three possessions. The Panthers took the lead 13-9 with less than a minute left in the first.

WP's Eshom Estes sank a put back from down low and the Cardinals were down, 11-13, at the end of the first.

Asotin kicked off the second quarter with a threepoint bucket and WP's Dalton Estes was quick to answer with a field goal and a three-point bucket of his own. But the Cardinals were still giving up too much on the baseline and the Panthers took advantage of the situation, matching the Cardinals bucket-forbucket.

A Zuger steal led to two points from Brown. Zach Bartlow put his first points of the night on the board to take back the Cardinal lead, 22-20.

Bartlow quickly put in one more, followed by another Brown bucket, and some controversial officiating soon turned this game for the worst for the Cardinals.

Bartlow was quickly pinned with an offensive charge and Brown took one for the team as he was pinned with a blocking call as he was pushed to the ground by a Panther.

Brown answered that call with a wide-open post shot for two, but Bartlow was called for his fourth foul on the next Panther possession and had no choice but to warm the bench for a while. At this point the Cards were down, 30-32, at the end of the third.

The Panthers put up six points to kick off the fourth quarter before Dalton Estes added two more for the Cardinals.

Bartlow took his turn beating his defender baseline for two, and Wooderchak found Zuger wide open. Zuger hit nothing but net from behind the threepoint line, but the Cardinals were still down, 38-43, with 3:32 left in the game.

Only seconds later, Bartlow collected his fifth and final foul and would have to sit the rest of this one out.

It was Wooderchak's foul shots and another trey from Zuger that pulled the Cards back into the game within three of the Panthers and just 50 seconds on the board.

The Cardinals held the Panthers to just one more free throw, but couldn't connect on their next three shots from behind the threepoint line. The Cards fell short, 45-49.

Brown led the Cardinals with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Bartlow was right on his tail with nine points and 11 rebounds. Wooderchak added eight points and Zuger added six points from behind the three-point line.

The Cardinals will face the DeSales Fighting Irish Friday, Jan. 13 in Walla Walla at 7:30 p.m.