The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WALLA WALLA -- The WP Cardinals stayed alive in playoff action with a 37-28 victory over the Tri-City Prep Jaguars last Saturday night.

The Jaguars were first to light the board, but the Cardinals answered with a three-point basket from Dalton Estes to start things off for the Cards.

The Jaguars answered Estes with a three-pointer of their own, but Cardinal Dustin Wooderchak added two more with a put back from underneath. The Jaguars gave the ball up to the Cards with a traveling violation, which WP's Zach Bartlow converted into another Cardinal three point bucket.

Eshom Estes followed that up with a defensive rebound that he took coastto coast for two, and then scored again when Bartlow grabbed another defensive rebound and found him down court for two more.

The Cardinals scored yet again with a pull up jumper from "Woody," but the Jaguars put up five unanswered points in the last minute of the quarter, leaving the Cardinals up, 14-10.

WP's Owen Lanning came off the bench to kick things off for the Cards with a three-point bucket, which Dalton Estes followed with a bucket of his own for two more.

The Jaguars answered the Cardinals with a basket of their own, but back-to-back buckets from Bartlow gave the Birds a 23-15 halftime lead.

Eshom Estes kicked things off for the Cardinals in the second half with a blocked Jaguar shot. But that would be the end of the excitement for the Cards as they scored only two points in the third quarter with a basket from Bartlow with 5:12 left in the third.

The game was all tied up at 25 to start the do-or-die fourth quarter for the Cards.

The Cardinals kicked off the fourth quarter with fouls from Bartlow and Dalton Estes, putting the Jaguars on the line. The Jaguars took the lead with one free throw, but the Cardinals wasted no time taking the lead back with two buckets from Bartlow and Justin Zuger.

Zuger then worked his mojo to find Wooderchak cutting through the key for two before the Jaguars answered with their first and last field goal of the quarter.

Zuger's mojo continued to flow by answering the Jaguars bucket from behind the three-point line.

The Cardinals followed up with a Bartlow jumper and a trip to the line after he drew a Jaguar foul on the shot to put the game away for the Cardinals with a 37-28 victory over the Jaguars.

That foul shot was the only time the Cardinals saw the free-throw line all night. They shot 34 percent from the field while totaling 19 turnovers.

Recent 1,000-point club member Bartlow added 14 more points to his season total, while bringing down 18 rebounds.

Dalton Estes had nine points and two steals, while Wooderchak added six points and ripped down nine rebounds.

WP vs. Tri-City Prep 37-28

WP149212-37 Prep 10 5 10 3 - 28

Bartlow 14 pts 18 reb

D. Estes 9 pts 2 stls

Wooderchak 6 pts 9 reb

Zuger 5 pts

Lanning 3 pts

Brown 6 reb