Union-Bulletin

WAITSBURG - Waitsburg-Prescott's boys basketball team won a rough-and-tumble home contest against Dayton 36-34 Friday to score its first win on a season that is starting to see the team shift into hoops mode after a deep run into the state football playoffs.

W-P was led by 10 points from senior Matt Hamilton and Zach Bartlow's 12 rebounds and three assists.

"Dayton likes to slow down the tempo, and they definitely did that tonight," said W-P head coach T.J. Scott. "We tried to speed things up at times, but they are a methodical team. They had a game plan, and they executed it, which almost led to a win for them."

The game came down to the closing minutes when a steal and layup by Dustin Wooderchak broke a 34-all tie. After taking control of the ball with the 36-34 edge W-P attempted to run the clock out, but following a timeout the Bulldogs stole the ball off a broken inbounds play and had three shots to tie the game in the final 18 seconds, but all three missed the mark.

"We caught a break that they couldn't make any of those shots at the end," Scott said. "Neither team shot very well tonight, and that's what it came down to tonight."

The win evened W-P's mark at 1-1, while Dayton, which was led by a game-high 17 points from Garrett Turner, fell to 3-2.

Waitsburg-Prescott 36, Dayton 34

Dayton (34) - Frame 0 2-2 2, Norris 1 0-0 2, Bickelhaupt 0 2-2 2, Schlachter 1 0-2 2, Henderson 1 0-2 2, Fullerton 0 2-2 2, Turner 6 5-8 17, Sunderland 1 3-4 5. Totals 10-NA, 14-20 34.

Waitsburg-Prescott (36) - Estes 0 0-0 0, Hofer 2 0-0 4, Cady 2 1-2 5, Zuger 1 0-0 3, Hernandez 1 0-0 2, Bartlow 3 2-5 8, Wooderchak 1 2-2 4, Brannck 0 0-0 0, Hamilton 5 0-0 10. Totals 15-NA 5-9 36

Dayton 7 12 9 6 - 34

W-P 10 7 10 9 - 36

3-point goals - Day None, W-P 1 (Zuger). Total fouls - Day 13, W-P 20. Fouled out - Day None, W-P 1 (Hofer). Technical fouls - None. Rebounds - Day 21 (NA), W-P 30 (Bartlow 12). Turnovers - Day 9, W-P. Assists- Day 5 (NA), W-P 4 (Bartlow 3).