D-W boys basketball lose to Walla Walla Valley Academy in league matchup

COLLEGE PLACE—The script of the Dayton-Waitsburg boys basketball team played out almost identically to their female counterparts against Walla Walla Valley Academy in a league loss last Tuesday 67-32, only there were more 3-pointers involved.

In the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference contest D-W got off to a slow start with its first bucket coming from Junior guard Mason Finney three minutes into the contest. Finney would score five more of his team leading 13 points in the first quarter as the team finished only two points behind the Knights, 16-14.

Things began to unravel a bit as WWVA steadily pulled away in the second quarter which also included a four-minute stretch where D-W didn’t score a point and the Knights jumped out to a 17-point lead. The pressure of the ever-increasing gap may have played a part as a flurry of turnovers in the second and third quarters seemed to come from telegraphed passes that WWVA eagerly intercepted.

While the Dayton-Waitsburg squad exhibited hustle and determination and great sportsmanship until the end, some of the team’s hiccups may have come from a new offense the team was running. They did have some success with it, and it looks with some more experience the pass-heavy offense will pay dividends.

WWVA had three players in double figures and finished with nine 3-pointers to D-W’s three.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total

DW 14 9 4 5 32

WWVA 16 24 18 9 67

Scoring

Dayton-Waitsburg DeSales (32): Finney 13, VanBlaricom 9, Bledsoe 5, Evans 2, White 2, Costello 1. 3-pts: 3-11, Finney 2, Bledsoe. Fouls: 14. Turnovers: 21. Free Throws: 9-13.

Walla Walla Valley Academy (67): Pollard 15, Santellano 11, Freedle 10, Torres 9, Clancy 5, Parks 5, Rittenbach 7, Castleman 3, Vynmeister 2. 3-pts: 9-21, Pollard 4, Santellano 2, Castleman, Torres, Rittenbach. Fouls: 14. Turnovers: 15. Free Throws: 10-14.