Defense Stymies Cards

WAITSBURG - Dayton kept its play-off hopes alive with a sound beating of Waitsburg-Prescott Friday on the Cardinals home court.

The Bulldogs bolted to a 9-point lead in the first stan­za and never looked back in defeating their Touchet Val­ley rivals, 53-33. The loss all but dashed WP's slim play- off hopes.

In the game Friday on the Cardinals home court, the Bulldog boys bolted to a 9-point lead in the first stan­za and never looked back in defeating their Touchet Valley rivals, 53-33. The loss all but dashed WP's slim playoff hopes.

It was Waitsburg-Prescott who came strong out of the gates. Dalton Estes opened with a 2-point inside bucket and two perfect free throws to give the Cards an early 4-1 lead. Wyatt Frame re­sponded seconds later with a pair from the charity stripe, and then the first of several Cardinal-slaying calls fell Dayton's way.

WP's defense appeared to force a shot clock viola­tion by Dayton when a long 3-point attempt just before the buzzer narrowly missed the rim and hit the back­board. Dayton recovered the rebound, the clock was reset and Dayton's Isaiah Lambert buried a 3-point basket sec­onds later. Cardinal appeals to the referees were ignored. The shot gave the Dogs a 2-point lead they would not relinquish.

Cruz Ramirez bumped the lead to nine, 13-4, with seven unanswered points in two minutes-a mid-range jumper, a 3 from the left baseline, and a put-back with 53 ticks left before the first period break. Dayton led 13-6 after one.

WP's Devin Acevedo breathed new life into the Cards with a trey at the 5:03 mark of the second quarter to close the gap to eight. But all excitement from that shot quickly waned when WP coach Tavis Crittenden picked up a technical foul 15 seconds later.

Dayton's Zach Waggoner drew a foul going up for a basket. The offending WP player walked to the Car­dinal bench to speak with Crittenden. As Waggoner prepared to shoot his free throws, the whistle was blown and Crittenden was T'd up. Crittenden explained his version of events.

"The kid was straight up and he comes over and says 'Coach, I didn't even touch him'. And I said, 'That was one of the softest fouls of the game, but he gave you a foul, so. And (the referee) gave me a technical for it," Crittenden said. "I had my mouth covered talking to the kid. What I said wasn't directed at (the referee). I didn't even see him until he blew the whistle. There are things that I've said that I deserved a technical foul for, but I don't think that was one of them."

Waggoner hit both of his free throws, Isaiah Lambert stepped to the line and bur­ied both technical foul shots, then Dayton took posses­sion of the ball. The 4-point swing boosted Dayton's lead to 12. The Cards never came within single digits after that.

"It took a lot of momen­tum out of us," said Critten­den. "I think our kids were- I don't want to say upset- but they couldn't stay as fo­Dayton's cused and just didn't seemed to be in it after that. They just got discouraged and it's my fault-I shouldn't have gotten the technical. That let them down, and I'll take full responsibility for that.

"Missed lay-ins, missed lay-ins, missed lay-ins," a down-cast Crittenden summed up. "We got good looks at the basket and couldn't finish. We're still not running the offense all the way through. We turned the ball over 25 times at least, and every time they missed a shot, we fouled them."

Dayton's locker room, meanwhile exuded opposite feelings if satisfied Dayton coach Roy Ramirez's post- game comments are any clue.

"Playing Waitsburg is a big rivalry game," Dayton coach Roy Ramirez said. "The kids get pumped up to play each other. We had four turnovers in the first couple minutes. I don't know if it was just nerves. But we settled down and did what we needed to do. We executed and got the shots we wanted.

"We worked a lot offen­sively this week," Ramirez continued. "I'm always real confident defensively with this team, but our offense is where we've been a little bit stagnant. The guys did a good job tonight moving the ball and making (WP's) zone shift. I thought it was a good game."

Bulldog Wyatt Frame led all scorers with 20 points. Cruz Ramirez chipped in an even dozen. WP's Dalton Es­tes led the WP effort with 14.