PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles’ Parker Nickerson made the leap this season from a sophomore starter to a certifiable star player in leading the Roughriders in most major statistical categories and on and off the floor as a team captain.
Junior Season Highlights. 20.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.1 apg, 3.0 spg. @Coach_Rollman @CoachSheltonUPS @DevinRecord @PLUcoachmurray @SJSUCoaches @TweetsbyCoachP @SBLiveWA @PrepHoopsWA @BenBeauchamp31 @NIUCoachHammock @UMassBasketball @Justin4hoops @coachhop_peter https://t.co/Qg0sCK2N1l
— Parker Nickerson (@pnickerson2024) March 15, 2023
It turns out that the leap was in the works since Nickerson’s freshman year.
“I’ve been talking with coach [Kasey] Ulin since freshman year that during my junior year I would have to carry the load,” Nickerson said.
“Sophomore year I had a great team around me. Wyatt [Dunning] was outstanding, John Vaara, Quanah Wheeler, Xander Maestas — I was there to provide a spark on defense and when it was my time to score I could score, but it wasn’t the priority. It was to get others involved and find another way to contribute.
“During the offseason, coach and I would talk about how I needed to be the best all-around player on the court at all times for us to have success. Sometimes my scoring might not be there, I might have an off night there, but I still need to find a way to win when it’s not falling.”
There weren’t many, if any, nights when Nickerson’s shot wasn’t falling, his defense wasn’t picking up stops and steals, his playmaking skills weren’t on display or he didn’t contribute on the boards.
Nickerson posted a 20.4 points per game scoring average with 4.5 assists, three steals and 4.2 rebounds per game.
“He didn’t have a game in single digits scoring this season and that’s incredible because teams are trying to stop him and slow us down every time out,” Ulin said. “Guys are out with injuries or illness and he put the team on his back.”
A first-team All-Olympic League selection by area coaches, Nickerson is the Peninsula Daily News All-Peninsula Boys Basketball MVP as picked by the sports staff of the paper.
Talking about practice
Ulin said Nickerson’s practice habits produced results.
“He’s always up for that responsibility. He wants to be a great player. He has some big goals for himself at the high school level and to get to the college level,” Ulin said. “He’s like that in practice every day. He’s prepared, ready to go and mentally engaged every day, and he would dominate practice and it would translate to games.”
Nickerson said the most improvement, individually and as a team, comes from practice experiences.
“You get better in practice,” Nickerson said. “That’s where you bond as a team the most. You want the games to be easy because of how hard you work in practice. And I have to be the hardest worker to show everybody else where we need to be.”
Ulin enjoyed Nickerson’s ability to bring his game every game.
“A lot of kids can pick and choose and turn it on and off for games, but he was so consistent,” Ulin said.
Big game player
And he was exciting.
Nickerson scored 31 points against Sequim in the Roughriders’ 76-49 win over the Wolves in January, including 25 in the first half, the biggest offensive output of his career. Nickerson, who is 6-foot-3 but has an outstanding vertical leap, scored six of those points on a trio of tomahawk dunks.
With post Isaiah Shamp and forward Tyler Hunter out against Kingston (36 points and 20 rebounds per game combined), Nickerson stepped up and scored 42 of Port Angeles’ 68 points in a 68-60 victory. He also had eight boards and five steals.
Historically, Ulin said the performance went in the school record books just behind high-scoring games from Port Angeles legends Bernie Fryer and Jon Madison.
“He did everything,” Ulin said of Nickerson. “He was 10-for-12 from the free-throw line, he had five 3-pointers, he shot well, he drove, he hit pull-ups, tough contested twos, and we needed every point. That was 42 points in a game where we needed every bucket.
“Our biggest games, he was always ready to go: 25 points versus North Kitsap, 27 versus Toppenish, 31 against Sequim and 42 vs. Kingston. He loves those bright lights.”
Nickerson pointed to a different contest altogether as his favorite from 2022-23: Port Angeles’ 66-62 district playoff home game, a loser-out contest in which Nickerson went for 27 points and hit the free throw to seal the win.
Having had to sit out Port Angeles’ state tournament run to sixth place, which included both a district and state tournament win over Franklin Pierce as a sophomore due to a season-ending injury, Nickerson was pleased to pick up a playoff victory.
“Beating Franklin Pierce in districts was pretty awesome, a playoff win is always amazing, so that was up there,” Nickerson said. “In a home playoff game, winning as a team is a great feeling.”
And Nickerson already has started the process for his senior season with his teammates and coaches.
“This spring he’s been getting everybody in the weight room and I’ve been asking him who we want to play in our nonleague games next season, who do we want to play this summer to improve,” Ulin said. “He’s so good with our youth program and our younger guys, he’s really going to leave a mark on Port Angeles and our program.”
All-Peninsula Boys Basketball Team
• MVP: Parker Nickerson, jr., G, Port Angeles: All-Olympic League first-team pick averaged 20.2 points per game, 4.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 3 steals.
• Isaiah Shamp, jr., P, Port Angeles: Posted 15.6 points per game on 57.6 percent shooting with 7.5 rebounds to earn a first-team All-Olympic League selection.
• Isaiah Moore, sr., F, Sequim: First-team All-Olympic League pick started all four seasons for Wolves and was pivotal in hitting game-winning jumper and free throws in beating Port Angeles to snap six-year losing skid to rivals.
• Zack Thompson, sr., F, Sequim: Honorable mention Olympic Leaguer was a team leader for Wolves.
• Tyler Hunter, sr., F, Port Angeles: Riders’ best outside shooter earned Honorable Mention Olympic League status.
• Julian Carrick, sr., G, Neah Bay: North Olympic League MVP averaged 18.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.7 steals for state-regional-bound Red Devils.
• Buddy Aguirre, sr., F, Neah Bay: Senior posted 14.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.4 steals.
• Keidan Guzman, jr., F, East Jefferson: Second-team All-Nisqually League selection in a competitive Class 1A league.
• Brody Moore, jr., G, East Jefferson: Rivals’ point guard earned a second-team All-Nisqually League pick.
________
Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Parker Nickerson of Port Angeles, front, drives to the lane as North Kitsap’s Mason Chmielewski defends his territory while Nickerson’s teammate, Tyler Hunter, looks on from behind on Thursday night in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Port Angeles’ Parker Nickerson, right, dribbles past Olympic’s Jackson Barrett during a December 2022 game in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
