DW Boys pull off dramatic come from behind win 51-41 over WWVA

DAYTON-The game started out with the boys taking advantage of four Walla Walla Valley Academy turnovers in the first quarter to take the early lead in the game. From that point until halftime, it was all WWVA. Wyatt Costello's only shot in the second quarter accounted for all of DW's points in the second quarter as DW went 1-12 from the field and also missed a couple of free throws. WWVA kept swapping out players every few minutes from their bench like a hockey team and built a 29-10 halftime lead.

If you thought the game was over at that point and left at halftime you missed an incredible second half. DW scored the first points of the quarter and just kept scoring. Colton VanBlaricom, Shawn Evans, Mason Finney, and Wyatt Costello went a combined 8-9 from the floor good for eighteen of the third quarter's twenty-two points. Monte Pettichord completed the comeback sinking both of his free throws to give DW back the lead at 32-31 which is where the score stood after the end of the third quarter. All WWVA could manage was two free throws from David Rittenbach. None of the eleven field goals they attempted in the quarter went in as every shot was contested by DW.

DW kept up the energy level in the fourth quarter sensing the win. It felt like momentum could shift after several players spilled onto the floor trying to recover a loose ball that WWVA came away within a fast break. However, Colton VanBlaricom went racing after the ball and cleanly took it away from the WWVA player who had already crossed over to WWVA's side of the court. DW would begin to pull away at that point and went on to win 51-41.

After the game, I asked coach Roy Ramirez what he said to the team at halftime.

"I just challenged them. I had a pretty good feeling we were going to come out flat just because of last night's game. We didn't play up to our expectations. Pretty emotional game for our guys. We thought we had a pretty good chance against them and we just didn't play the way we needed to. That was in the back of my mind that we might come out flat and we kind of did. We picked it up defensively and that defense led to some good offensive and just kept rolling."

And your bench was big in that comeback.

"We don't lose a lot when we put our guys in. It's a luxury we have. All the guys are capable of doing what we need to do."

WWVA @ DW 5/28/2021

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total

WWVA 14 15 2 10 41

DW 8 2 22 19 51

DW: Colton VanBlaricom 5, Shawn Evans 12, Mason Finney 10, Monte Pettichord 4, Wyatt Costello 6, Keon Lindley 3, Dylan Bledsoe 11,