Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Owen Lanning takes a shot as one of WWVA's clutch players fouls out.
WAITSBURG - Much of where WP will end up in the league standings going into the playoffs was decided at Kison Court last weekend and Monday. WP played 30 percent of its league schedule and over half of its home league calendar in the four days surrounding Sunday.
Unfortunately, the Cards counted just one win in the three games-against Asotin, 64-56, on Friday. The Cardinals dropped Saturday's contest to the surging DeSales Irish, 75-56, then dropped a heartbreaking comeback try against first place Walla Walla Valley Academy, 69-58.
WWVA looked anything but the best team in the league or WP the worst through the first quarter. WP broke open a 5-all tie after the opening three minutes with a 21-9 blitzkrieg. Two minutes into the second quarter, the Cards held a 26- 14 advantage, and appeared in control of the game.
WWVA switched to its full court press after a timeout, and the WP turnovers began to pile up. The Knights converted those turnovers into an 18-3 run that eliminated WP's dozen-point lead in just 3:30. At halftime, the Knights led 35-33.
WWVA appeared to deliver the knockout punch in the third quarter. The Knights scored 17 of the quarters first 20 points. At the end of the three periods, WWVA led 54-38.
Whatever WP coach Tavis Crittenden said in the huddle before the fourth lit a spark under the listless Cards. WP opened up the period on a 9-0 run that could have been more had the Cards not shot 2-of-7 from the free throw line in the stretch.
Matt Hanson put WWVA's first points of the period on the board at the 5:01 mark. WP responded with a 7-2 run to close the 16-point gap to just four points, 58- 54, on field goals by Owen Lanning and Chance Leroue and free throws by Lanning and Seth Deal.
That was as close as the Cardinals would get. Alex Wagner hit the last of his four 3-pointers on the night from the left wing at the two- minute mark. After Lanning missed on a physical drive with no foul call, Hanson put the Knights up by nine with 1:08 to play on two made free throws, icing the game.
"We just attacked the baskets. We went after them; weren't scared of them at all," Crittenden said of the way his team jumped out to the early lead. "We outhustled them in the first quarter. Then they started hitting 3s which got them back into it."
The Knights hit seven 3-pointers in the first half, and 10 on the game.
"We started looking for the home run too much on the press break," Crittenden said. "We tried to throw the ball too far instead of working it down and hitting open guys. We started forcing it too much. That hurt us a lot. We had a lot of silly turnovers."
WP lost the turnover battle 25-15.
Lanning led the Cards in scoring with 19. Stirling Eastman, in his first game back for WP since injuring his finger in the Cards' state semifinal football loss, grabbed the most rebounds on the night with 10.
Three Knights hit double- digits in scoring. Hanson had 18, Wagner 16, and Dustin Rose 14.
WP allowed Asotin 20 first quarter points, but put a lid on the Panther hoop in the second. Trailing 20-12 after one, the Cards held Asotin to just three points in the sec- ond period while posting 13 points of their own. WP led at half 25-23.
WP refused to back off the accelerator after the half, building the lead to nine points after three quar- ters, to 16 midway through the fourth, and eight to end the game.
Seth Deal registered 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter. Deal hit on three fourth-quarter 3s and was a perfect 2-of-2 from the stripe. Lanning led all scorers in the game with 20, and all rebounders with nine. Chance Leroue added 10 points and eight rebounds.
WP had its best free throw shooting perfor- mance of the season against Asotin, hitting on 13-of-22 tries from the line.
Dalton Estes sat out Saturday night's tilt with DeSales after re-injuring his ankle at the end of the Asotin game. Kyle Dozier filled in at point guard in his place, but the Irish press proved too much for the Cards.
DeSales bolted to a 45- 33 lead at half, then cruised to the 19-point victory, 75-56.
Lanning posted a career high 30 points in the loss, and completed the doubledouble with 10 rebounds. Five players scored in dou- ble figures for the Irish.
After the three games, WP's record stands at 3-11 on the season, 1-4 in league play. They were tied with Dayton for last place in the league prior to Tuesday night's action. WP plays again Saturday at Tri-Cities Prep in Pasco.
Friday Asotin 20 3 10 23 - 56 WP 12 13 17 22 - 64 Saturday DeSales 19 26 13 17 - 75 WP 18 15 16 7 - 56 Monday WWVA 12 23 19 15 - 69 WP 21 12 5 20 - 58
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