Wolfpack finishes in fourth

DAYTON–Wolfpack Boys Basketball finished fourth in the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference league playoffs after kicking the eight-team tourney off with a 50-38 win over Kittitas on the home court, then dropping the quarterfinal at Cle Elum 62-37 and losing the consolation final to White Swan 56-36, back at home.

Columbia-Burbank eked out a 58-57 win over Cle Elum to win the tournament, setting the one and two spots, with White Swan in third and the Wolfpack fourth.

Naturally, the WolfPack would've preferred third place, commented Head Coach Roy Ramirez. "In the last few years, we haven't been able to have that opportunity." Against White Swan, "the team was disappointed we didn't shoot better," Ramirez commented. "That was definitely a team we could beat, we just couldn't get the shots to fall."

Dayton-Waitsburg looked good in their 50-38 win over Kittitas here last week. In spite of a Coyote press, DW was getting looks and finishing at the hoop to take a 13-11 first-quarter lead on a shared effort by Mason Finney, Shawn Evans and Wyatt Costello.

"They all work well together," said Ramirez. "That's a huge benefit we have, whether it's our starters, and-or our guys coming off the bench, everybody contributes.

Kittitas pressed the whole game and went ice cold in the second quarter. We kind of got out of sorts on the press but finally found ourselves," Ramirez said. "We've faced that all year...press-press-press..."

The Wolfpack was energized by go-for-broke play by Finney and a trey by Dylan Bledsoe as they pumped the lead by 11 more points while holding the Coyotes to three in the quarter, leading 24-14 at halftime.

DW outscored Kittitas again in the third to keep a comfortable margin of 14 points after three quarters, and they fended off a Coyote run in the fourth, maintaining their eight or nine-point margin down to a couple minutes when Kittitas fouled in the end game.

Finney was game-high scorer with 18 and Costello followed with 10.

DW 50, Kittitas 38 (6-16)

DW 13 11 13 13-50

Kit 11 3 9 15-38

DW (50) Colton VanBlaricom 4, Shawn Evans 6, Mason Finney 18, Monte Pettichord 4, Wyatt Costello 10, Keon Lindley 2, Dylan Bledsoe 6. Free throws: 9/18-50%. FG2-16/43-37%. FG3-3/8-38%.

Kittitas (38) Coles 2, Rasback 10, Towner 8, Catlin 13, Hayden 5. Free throws: 3/15-20%. FG2-13/29-45%. FG3-3/6-50%.

Cle Elum-Roslyn 62, DW 37

A logistical hiccup worked against the Wolfpack in its 62-37 second-round loss to Cle Elum-Roslyn.

"The trip didn't go well," said Coach Ramirez. "We didn't get to the gym on time. There was no time for pre-game warm-up or anything-just throw our uniforms on and go play. It was very unfortunate.

DW played better in the second half after recovering from the bus ride and hurried start-keeping Cle Elum shooters at bay and coming up with offense that was competitive.

The Warriors capitalized on that advantage, outscoring the Wolfpack 25-8 in the first quarter and 16-5 in the second period to hold a 41-13 margin going into half time. By the time DW found its bearings, the lead was insurmountable.

CER 25 16 14 7-62

DW 8 5 14 10-37

DW Evans 9, Mason 11, Pettichord 1, Costello 8, Lindley 4, Bledsoe 2, Cayle Davis 2. Free throws: 11/17-65%. FG2-10/32-31%. FG3-2/14-14%.

CER (62) Chafin 8, Singer 10, Kelly 10, Johnson 5, Favineau 7, Razze 3, J. Kelly 2, Montgomeroy 3, Vator 2, Ellison 12. Free throws: 7/13-54%. FG2-10/44-23%. FG3-5/13-38%.

White Swan 62, DW 37

In the third game in as many nights, the Wolfpack iced up in the second quarter, battled to a draw with a high-scoring third stanza and kept pace with the Cougars in the fourth-that first-half margin spelling the difference in the 56-36 game and a fourth-place finish for DW.

White Swan's Kupkana Leavitt was hot with 22 points, and Roger Valdez and Devin Sampson-Craig each chipping in 11 to account for three-quarters of Cougar scoring.

DW's Wyatt Costello was team high with 14, hitting a trio of buckets in the third and counting the rest from the free-throw line. Shawn Evans drained two three pointers in the fourth period, but his eight in the game wasn't enough to make up for low point totals from teammates Mason Finney, with three, Dylan Bledsoe, 2, Colton VanBlaricom with five, and Monte Pettichord with four.

Dayton-Waitsburg trailed by only five points after the first eight minutes then the offense was shut down in the second, Monte Pettichord's bucket and two Costello gifters counting all the scoring while the Cougar's Leavitt swished four field goals and teammates scored for a 16-4 quarter, making it 28-11 at half time.

Costello fired up in the third with 10 points, four from the charity stripe, with buckets by Evans and Finney, and a pair of free throws from Bledsoe matching White Swan point for point.

But the damage was done and the rally being mirrored by the Cougars finished out the game 11-8 in the fourth quarter.

White Swan 56, DW 36 (6-18)

WS 12 16 17 11-56

DW 7 4 17 8-36

DW (37) VanBlaricom 5, Evans 8, Finney 3, Pettichord 4, Costello 14, Bledsoe 2. Free throws: 5/9-55%. FG2-7/45-16%. FG3-3/15-20%.

White Swan (56) Sampson-Craig 11, Watlamet 1, Valdez 11, Leavitt 22, Ryan 4, Hull 1, Dittenholer 6. Free throws: 8/17-47%. FG2-15/37-41%. FG3-6/16-37%.