The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

MILTON-FREEWATER-Oh so close. Junior Mason Finney's shot from the top of the arc bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded for a heart-breaking loss, 53-52, Saturday afternoon to Stanfield at the Mac-Hi Christmas Tournament.

It hurt even more for the once again shorthanded squad because they held a 44-37 advantage with seven minutes to go in the game. They had a 50-49 lead with 1:35 left and it was tied up at 52 after two free throws by Junior Wyatt Costello with 19 seconds left after D-W had lost the lead.

Stanfield's Ricky Carrillo put the Tigers up for good after missing his first free throw but sunk his second attempt with four seconds left for the one-point victory.

Dayton-Waitsburg played some of their best basketball of the season despite being plagued by seasonal illness. They shot the ball better and finished with a season low 12 turnovers.

D-W looked like they were going to take over the game two minutes into the third quarter after Sophomore sharpshooter Dylan Bledsoe went on an 11-point scoring spurt. He would finish with a game-high 16 points. This came after Stanfield had taken back the lead with six unanswered points to start the second half. Bledsoe stopped that momentum swing with a layup underneath the basket on a designed play with the assist from Senior Tayven Seney.

Bledsoe would score the team's next nine points all from beyond the 3-point arc. It gave Dayton-Waitsburg a 34-29 lead with 3:29 left in the third quarter. His teammate Costello got a chance to shine with some more playing time as a result of team illness as he finished with 11 points. Costello's electrifying shot of the game came with 2:20 left in the first half when after receiving a pass he spun around and hit a basket from near the free throw line in the middle of a D-W 9-0 run and gave Dayton-Waitsburg a 23-15 lead.

Junior Colton VanBlaricom was the other Dayton-Waitsburg player scoring double figures with 12 points. Five of his points came from the free throw line. However, it is one area the Dayton-Waitsburg boys basketball team need to continue to improve on as they finished 50 percent from the charity strip, 12-for-24. Stanfield on the other hand was 16-for-27 from the free throw line.

Dayton-Waitsburg will look to rebound this Saturday, Jan. 4, when they return to league play by hosting DeSales at the Waitsburg gym at 6:30 p.m.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total

Stanfield 9 11 15 18 53

D-W 8 15 17 12 52

Stanfield (53): Sanchez 15, Orozco 15, Carillo 7, Hernandez 6, Brown 4, Elizares 4, Kerns 2. 3-pts: 2-9, Carrillo, Sanchez. Fouls: 21. Fouled out, Elizares. Turnovers: 11. Free Throws: 16-27.

Dayton-Waitsburg (52): Bledsoe 16, VanBlaricom 12, Castello 11, Finney 7, Evans 5, Seney 1. 3-pts: 6-16, Bledsoe 4, VanBlaricom, Finney. Fouls: 23. Fouled out, Seney. Turnovers: 12. Free Throws: 12-24.