WP Boys Split At Tourney

WALLA WALLA - The Waitsburg- Prescott boys dropped their first two con- tests at the DeSales Christmas Tournament before knocking off the host Irish in the tourney finale. WP fell to Touchet 58- 48 on Thursday and to Weston- McEwen 66-45 on Friday, then rose up to knock off the Irish in dramatic fashion 55-52 on Saturday.

Seth Deal caught fire from behind the 3-point line Satur- day, hitting six treys including the game winner with three seconds remaining. WP held a 42-35 lead entering the fourth quarter and built it to 10, but a spat of traveling calls against the Cards allowed DeSales back into the ball game. The Irish eventually tied it at 52- 52 with 30 seconds to go. WP called timeout at 0:16 to set up the winning play.

"The guys ran the play, but the play broke down," WP head coach Tavis Crittenden said. "No one came out to guard Seth and he was feeling it I guess. We wanted to go to our low post, but when you're a shooter and the shooter comes open, you've got to shoot it."

Thursday's opening loss to Touchet was a story of missed opportunities from the free throw line and too many turnovers in the first half. WP shot just 5-of-13 from the free throw line in the first half against the Indians. WP's turn- overs resulted in a number of easy fast break lay-ins that fed a second quarter Indian run and put the Cardinals down by 16 at the break.

The Cards turned it around from the charity stripe in the second half hitting on 13-of- 18. That coupled with stern defense and better ball-control enabled the Cards to close the gap to five in the late going. WP was forced to foul down the stretch, and the Indians made their free throws to pull away by 10 late.

Friday's three-match with Weston-McEwen hinged on the loss of WP's post presence(s) due to foul trouble early on. Sophomore Chance Leroue picked up his first foul right away and a second inside the four minute mark. Crittenden attempted to substitute him out, but his sub was not allowed in time. Leroue picked up his third foul seconds later and remained on the bench for the rest of the first half. All tolled Leroue played less than nine minutes on the game.

To make matters worse, WP's other starting post Logan Dozier also saddled himself with fouls, opening up the inside to Weston-McEwen's at- tacking guard, Tyler Peterson. Peterson finished the game with 15 points. Brothers Lance and Calvin Thacker added 16 and 14 points respectively in- cluding six made baskets from behind the 3-point arc.

The Cardinals are 2-8 on the season. They resume their hardwood season January 8 at Mac-Hi in Milton-Freewater.