Cardinals Head to Sub-Regionals

WAITSBURG – The WP boys' basketball team advanced to the sub-regional playoffs next week by defeating Asotin Monday in the losers' bracket of the SE 2B District 9 league tournament here, 54-51. The Panthers were eliminated.

Monday's game came after the Cardinals lost a heartbreaker to Tri-Cities Prep in Saturday's first tournament round, 52-51, in overtime.

Thirty-three of Asotin's 51 points Monday were the result of 11 successful shots from outside the three-point line. The Panthers sank only five two-point field goals.

The Cardinals' tight man-to-man defense for most of the game wasn't enough to stop the hot hands of Asotin's guards, but clutch fourth-quarter foul shooting saved the day for WP.

The Cardinals trailed for much of the game, as Asotin took a 14-9 first-quarter lead, and led 20-19 at the half. At the halftime buzzer, Devin Acevedo sank WP's only three-point shot of the game, to draw the Cardinals within one.

After trailing 39-35 going into the fourth quarter, the Cardinals kept the game close. With six minutes to play, WP's Kyle Gradwohl stole an Asotin pass and made an open layup to close the Panther lead to two, 42-40. At the 4:45 mark, Owen Lanning put the Cardinals ahead, 43-42, after being fouled on a layup and converting the free throw.

Lanning was again fouled at the four-minute mark and sank both shots from the line. After the Cardinals' Kaiman Suffia sank one of two free throws, an Asotin three-pointer put the Panthers back ahead, 47-46, with 3:20 remaining.

WP's Chance Leroue sank two free throws with 2:55 remaining, to tie the game at 48.

A Gradwohl layup and a Leroue ten-foot jump shot, sandwiched around a missed three-point attempt by Asotin, gave the Cardinals the lead for good, 52-48, with 1:40 remaining. A rare two-point shot by Asotin cut the lead to two, but the Panthers missed three of four free-throw attempts in the final 90 seconds.

With eight seconds left, and WP nursing a one-point lead,52-51, Lanning was fouled and sank both ends of a one-plus-one to bump the lead to three. A desperation Panther three-point attempt at the buzzer failed, to seal the win for the Cardinals.

For the game, the Cardinals shot 15 of 20 from the free throw line, while the Panthers were eight of 15.

The Cardinals had balanced scoring, with 12 points from Leroue, 11 from Suffia, nine from Acevedo and eight from Lanning. Lanning was six of seven from the free throw line.

TCP 52, WP 51, OT

In Saturday's opening tournament round game against Tri-Cities Prep, Acevedo hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of regulation to tie the score at 47. But the Jaguars got a clutch three-pointer of their own late in overtime to seal the victory.

WP jumped ahead in the first quarter, leading at the end of one, 17-6. But the Jaguars came back to trail by one at the half, 26-25. Trailing by six after three, TCP outscored the Cardinals 15-9 in the final quarter to bring on overtime.

For the game, Suffia led the Cardinals with 12 points, followed by Acevedo with nine and Leroue, Lanning and Gradwohl with eight each. Gradwohl also sank two three-pointers.

On Monday, the Cardinals will travel Spokane's West Valley High School for the first round of the District 7/9 Sub-Regional Tournament. The will play the fourth-seeded team from District 7, which was to be determined in tournament play Thursday.

2B Regional & State Basketball Tournament Schedule

District 7/9 Sub-Regional Tournament

Monday, Feb. 16 - West Valley High, Spokane

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20, 21 - Whitman College

State 2B Regional Tournament

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27, 28 - Spokane

State 2B Championship Tournament

Thursday - Saturday, March 5, 6 and 7 - Spokane