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Wolfpack one win away from State Berth

BURBANK–Dayton-Waitsburg's Wolfpack boys need one more win to achieve a berth in the 2B State Tournament as they face EWAC (West) opponent Mabton Cougars in the next-to-last round of tournament play at 3 p.m. Thursday, February 16, at Granger High School.

DW has not met Mabton this year, and a win would put the boys into Game 11 against the winner of the White Swan v. Cle Elum game that follows its 3 p.m. contest at Granger. Due to league allocations, both teams from that final game win berths at State.

The Wolfpack sliced through White Swan 65-47 in the tournament's opening round February 7 to face EWAC East No. 1, Columbia-Burbank on their home court last Friday, February 10. But the Coyotes were unconscious from the arc in the first quarter and built a lead that DW couldn't recover, winning 77-44, and bumping the Wolfpack into the Consolation round.

A flurry of three pointers lifted the Coyotes to a 20-14 first-quarter lead against the Wolfpack, the long shots wreaking as much psychological damage as the points on the scoreboard. Tristian Frimodt sluiced three treys and 13 first-quarter points and combined with Quincy Scott to give Columbia a six-point edge after eight minutes.

Monte Pettichord and Spencer Hansen scored to start things off, with Benny Bryan going up for two before Frimodt made consecutive treys to nudge the score to 14-6. Balanced scoring played out the quarter.

The Wolfpack struggled in the second quarter, outscored by 14-7, and didn't get on track in the second half, scoring 23 to Columbia's 43.

Frimodt paced all scorers with 24, including four from the arc.

Only two Wolfpack players were in double figures: Spencer Hansen with 15 and Monte Pettichord with 12. Pettichord had nine rebounds, six offensive, and Bryan had eight, six defensively.

Against White Swan, a second-quarter run gave the Wolfpack a 26-15 half time margin, helped by an 11-0 flurry of points by Hansen, Kilts, Pettichord and Bryan.

In the first quarter, neither team dominated, the Cougars taking a 9-8 lead on a Valdez bucket.

Growing the lead to 24-12 with 22 second left in the half, the quarter played out with Pettichord and White Swan's Johnson chipping in gifters to end the half at 26-15.

With a comfortable lead, DW played ball and shared scoring around, outscoring the Cougars 23-16. They cruised the fourth quarter, evening with 16 each.

Columbia 77, Dayton-Waitsburg 44 (2/10)

DW 14 7 14 9-44

CB 20 14 22 21-77

DW (44) Spencer Hansen 15, Gage Holm 1, Ryland Kilts 9, Benny Bryan 7, Monte Pettichord 12. Free throws: 10/21-48%. FG(2): 14/21-67%. FG(3): 2/18-11%.

Columbia (77) P. Nelson 7, T. Frimodt 24, C. Ross 6, C. Pariera 2, Q. Scott 15, M. Lenke 13, A. Carter 2, E. Kinsey 8. Free throws: 12/17-71%. FG(2): 22/34-65%. FG(3): 7/14-5-%.

DW 65, White Swan 47 (2/7)

DW 8 18 23 16-65

WS 9 6 16 16-47

DW (65) Spencer Hansen 18, Gage Holm 16, Ryland Kilts 12, Benny Bryan 5, Monte Pettichord 14. Free throws: 19/29-66%. FG(2): 20/30-67%. FG(3): 2/13-15%.

White Swan (47) Lee 8, Haggerty 2, Valdez 15, Hamilton 7, Johnson 7, Bill 3, Dittenholer 5. Free throws: 16/24-67%. FG(2): 11/3-31%. FG(3): 3/15-20%.