The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The WP Cardinals fell to the Dayton Bulldogs, 38-49, last Wednesday night in a District 9 tournamentseeding matchup.

The heat was on, both on the court and in the stands with the gym near capacity to cheer on another high school rival basketball game.

WP's Billy Brown out jumped Dayton's Joey Schlachter and the game was on. The Cardinals were the first to score with a basket from Zach Bartlow, but Schlachter quickly answered from down low for the Bulldogs' first two points. As the two teams battled back and forth in a playgroundstyle game, it would be minutes until the board was lit up again with a put back from Dayton's Colton Bickelhaupt with less than 5 minutes left in the first quarter.

The Cardinals called their first timeout to regroup, only to throw the ball away under their basket giving Schlachter the opportunity for another Bulldog bucket. The playground game continued as both teams struggled for a basket and neither team was running the floor in their usual fashion. Whether it was playoff jitters or the fact that the outcome of the game would only determine who played who on Saturday, both teams seemed to missing their usual flair.

With nearly two minutes left in the first, Dayton's Kroft Sunderland put his first score on the board, but WP's Bartlow pulled out some moves with a driving pull up jump shot for two.

The Bulldogs answered with a defensive rebound that they took the length of the court ending with a bank shot from down low from Sunderland.

WP's Justin Zuger attempted to answer that with a shot from the top of the key at the buzzer, but the ball bricked off the front of the rim and the first quarter ended with the Bulldogs on top, 10-4.

It was a Bulldog basket from Garett Turner that kicked things off, but Bartlow answered that with his third-straight Cardinal basket. Bickelhaupt got his hands on a Cardinal pass and took the length of the court for two, followed by another dominating bucket from Sunderland from down low for a 16-6 Bulldog lead.

WP's Sterling Eastman answered that in his usual threepoint fashion, but Turner landed a three of his own from the dog pound to maintain a Bulldog 10-point lead. WP's Owen Lanning came off the bench to put one in for the Cardinals, but it was Sunderland once again with a put back for two for the Dogs. Schlachter was caught with a shooting foul sending Lanning to the line to shoot two. Lanning hit nothing but net to add two more to the board for the Cards.

It was a dog fight for the ball in the final minute of the first half as possession changed hands repeatedly, until Bulldog Hayden Fullerton got his hands on a dish out and put it away for two with 13 seconds left leaving the Cardinals down, 13-23, going into the locker room.

WP's Bartlow put up seven of the Cardinals' nine thirdquarter points, but baskets from Dayton's Turner, Sunderland, and Fullerton added 13 to the Bulldog board for a 23-35 Bulldog lead going into the final quarter.

Bartlow continued to pound the Bulldogs from the field with 12 points in the fourth quarter including two long treys to earn him a spot in the 1,000-point club, but it wasn't enough to narrow the gap from the Bulldogs 10-point lead at the half. The Cards came up short with a final score of 38-49.

WP vs DAYTON 38-49

WP 491015-38 Day 10 13 12 14 - 49

WP

Bartlow 25 pts

Lanning 6 pts

Eastman 3 pts

Brown 2 pts

Leroue 2 pts

E. Estes 2 pts.

Dayton

Turner 17 pts 7 reb

Sunderland 14 pts 9 reb

Fullerton 9 pts.

Schlachter 5 pts

Bickelhaupt 4 pts.