Cardinals Stomp Irish

WAITSBURG -- The WP Cardinals had seven players land buckets for a total of 31 second-quarter points en route to a 80-40 stomping of the DeSales Fighting Irish last Friday night on Kison Court.

The Cardinals opening 6-0 run began with a put back from Billy Brown, a Zach Bartlow drive to the hoop for two, and Dalton Estes was wide open underneath the basket for an easy bucket to kick things off for the Cards.

The Irish sank their first basket with just more than 4 minutes left in the first, but WP's Dustin Wooderchak quickly answered.

The Irish added five unanswered points including a three-point perimeter shot from Alex Buley to narrow the Cardinal lead, 8-7.

WP's Eshom Estes then dished out a defensive rebound to brother and wingman Dalton Estes who laid it in for an easy two points.

Wooderchak then snagged the ball away from the Irish on their next possession and took it all the way for an easy two and a 12-7 Cardinal lead after one quarter.

And then the second-quarter Irish stomping began. The Irish threw up a quick bucket to start the scoring, but the Cardinals had no trouble responding with a bucket from Eshom Estes from inside, followed by Bartlow sharing the love with a dish off to Dalton Estes for two.

The Cardinals kept it coming with another strong put back from Brown who was rebounding with a vengeance, and Sterling Eastman connected on his first trey for a 21-14 WP lead.

The Irish finally connected for two more, but Brown kicked off another Cardinal scoring spree with another basket from down low.

The Irish sent Justin Zuger and Bartlow to the line for four more points and Wooderchak nailed one from downtown for three, widening the lead, 30-18.

Bartlow put his moves on the Irish for another two and Wooderchak drove baseline for another Cardinal bucket before the Irish could respond.

Three more Cardinal field goals, and a second three pointer from Eastman at the buzzer that hit nothing but net, gave the Cardinals a cushy 43-26 halftime lead.

The WP man-to-man defense certainly frazzled the Irish who only managed eight third-quarter points.

The Cardinals scoring just kept coming with back to back breakaways from Bartlow and Wooderchak, and another three point basket from Eastman.

The WP bench began their rotation onto the floor ending the Cardinal third quarter scoring with a basket down low from Devin Acevedo to put the Cardinals up 60-34.

The bench continued to put the Irish in their place with 12 fourth quarter points from Owen Lanning who found a comfy spot to camp out in the back court while the Cardinal rebounders continually found him wide open.

The Cardinals held the Irish to just four points in the fourth and finished strong with a three pointer from Wooderchak, and even Brown put one in from downtown.

The 80-40 victory was a definite morale booster for the Cardinals who have had some heartbreaking losses in the last minutes of their previous two games.

Bartlow was lead man for the Cards shooting 80 percent from the floor for 18 points. He grabbed 11 rebounds and had 8 assists.

Wooderchak was hot on his heels shooting 75 percent from the floor for 14 points.

Owen Lanning added 12 points while Eastman had 11 points five rebounds and five assists. Dalton Estes was the fifth Cardinal to reach double digits with 10 points and Brown added nine points and seven rebounds.

The Cardinals moved into a tie for second place with the Asotin Panthers with a 58-50 victory over the Tri-City Prep Jaguars Saturday night.

Prep's 6- foot, 5- inch Jameson Peterson scored 17 points on the Cards who made some defensive adjustments and managed to get Jameson frustrated with foul trouble.

Jameson's foul trouble and some sharp shooting from the outside were key factors for the Cardinals who landed seven three pointers during the night.

Bartlow put up a doubledouble with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Wooderchak threw up 14 points and Eastman lit the board with 11 points including three treys.

The Cardinals will travel to Liberty Christian next Friday night to face the Patriots. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.