WP Boys Struck Down

WAITSBURG - The WP boys hung with the Sunnyside Christian Giants - er, Knights for a half before succumbing 50-25 Thursday in Waitsburg. The Knights who boast a front line of 6-foot 7-inch Brandon Boersma, and 6-foot 5-inch Drew Scheenstra, backed up off the bench by 6-foot 5-inch Darren Boersma, were a tall order for the Cardinals to fill. For one half they nearly did.

Sunnyside Christian clawed its way to a 7-0 lead at the 2:49 mark of the first half, but every basket it claimed was a difficult one against a solid, aggressive WP defense. WP fought back into the game, ty- ing the score at 11-11 midway through the second thanks to field goals by Owen Lanning, Logan Dozier, and Chance Leroue, and perfect 5-for-5 free throw shooting in the 5:30 stretch.

Sunnyside Christian put a lid on the Cardinals run with back-to-back 3-pointers by Alex Brouwer and Brandon Boersma, but WP's Dalton Estesrespondedwitha3ofhis own to make the score 17-14 with 2:07 left in the first half. Brouwer's 15-foot jumper and one made free throw in the last minute put the Cards down six going into halftime 20-14.

The turnover bug hit the Cardinals coming out of the break. WP committed four turnovers in the first two min- utes, and the Knights respond- ed with a Brouwer trey and a Brandon Boersma deuce, increasing the lead to 11. The spurt prompted WP coach Tavis Crittenden to call time out, but the Knights run was just beginning. SC increased its lead to 14 at the end of the third quarter, 35-21, then shut down the Cardinal offense in the fourth-not allowing WP a field goal in the quarter.

The Knights outscored WP 15-4 over the final 8:00 to double-up on the Cards in the final score, 50-25.

"They kind of put the game away with 3s," WP head coach Tavis Crittenden said. "They hit a couple of 3s right at the beginning of the third quarter that put us back, and got us out of our game plan. We did a good job on their big guy (Brandon Boersma). He only had 10 points, but I think he had about 10 blocks. We did a good job being physical with him."

Brandon Boersma finished the game just a rebound short of a triple double.

"The kids played aggres- sive. They played hard. You can't fault them," Crittenden said. "We're not going to face that many big kids in the post, so we will get more shots to fall against a little bit shorter teams. There aren't too many teams that are going to run out two 6-5s and a 6-7 guy on us."

WP's offense suffered in the second half in part due to its leading scorer, Owen Lanning, sidelined with foul trouble. Lanning had three fouls at half, and picked up his fourth with 2:42 remaining in the third. Lanning fouled out at 3:41 of the fourth less than 30 seconds after re-entering the game.

"That hurt us offensively because he is the best getting the ball to the basket," Critten- den said of Lanning. "Some- times he tries to make a play when a play is not available, but to his credit he is always working really, really hard. He was a little bit out of control, but it was just effort. He was trying to catch us back up."

Leroue led WP in scoring with 10 points on 6-of-7 foul shooting. He was the only Cardinal player to tally double figures in points. Leroue also pulled down seven rebounds in the losing effort. Five-foot 11- inch Devin Acevedo topped the Cards in rebounds with eight.

Three players scored in double digits for the Knights. Brouwer hit for 16 with nine points coming via three 3-point baskets. Brandon Boersma and Joel Martin both had 10.

The Cardinals (1-6) are off for seven days. Their next action takes place on George Ball Court at Whitman College, where WP will take part in the DeSales Christmas tournament.

SC 9 11 15 15 - 50 WP 6874- 25

FT - WP: 10-17 (59%);SC: 8-17 (47%).

REB - WP: 30, SC: 38.

TO - WP: 19, SC: 14.

WP: Leroue 10 pts., 7 rebs.,

Acevedo 8 rebs.

SC: B. Boersma 10 pts., 10

blocks, 9 rebs., Brouwer 10

pts., Martin 10 pts.