PORT ANGELES — Season two of the Port Angeles Rams tips off Saturday at 4 p.m. with a contest against the Peninsula College Pirates men’s basketball team at the Peninsula gym.
The Rams are a semipro basketball team that competes in the American Basketball Association against teams from the Seattle and Tacoma area.
Peninsula College is hosting this game with ticket prices set at $6 for adults, $4 for seniors ages 55 and up and teens ages 13-17. Free admission is provided to PC students, staff and children up to age 12.
Port Angeles will play five games in the Peninsula College gym this season, four of them coming after the new year. A game in Neah Bay also will be held with the date and details on that contest still in the works.
Team members are community members, with the majority of the Rams’ roster made up of former North Olympic Peninsula prep standouts.
Former Neah Bay boys basketball head coach Gerrad Brooks returns as head coach of the squad and he has multiple former Red Devils on the Rams’ roster.
“Abraham Venske is back,” Brooks said of the former All-Peninsula Boys Basketball MVP. We have Mike Dulik III and Titus Pascua out this season and I coached all three of those guys at Neah Bay.”
Sequim’s Nick Camporini, an assistant coach with the Peninsula men, will play against his own players in Saturday’s contest.
Brooks said Camporini hasn’t provided any inside information or a scouting report on his Pirate players.
“No, not really,” Brook said with a laugh. “I’m one of those guys who sticks to our own thing. If we take care of what we are supposed to be doing out on the floor we will be fine.”
Brooks said the team is excited to get on the court after practicing twice a week since late September.
“We are looking forward to playing,” Brooks said. This is our first game action at all.”
Other returners include Sequim’s Kenny Maier, Michael Janis, Darryl Svec who played at Neah Bay, William Hatch Jr. of Forks and Derrick Findley.
Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribal member Jared Moses is a newcomer along with Pascua and Dulik.
Brooks said the team enjoyed its debut season last winter and heard the same from North Olympic Peninsula fans after hosting games in Port Angeles and Neah Bay.
“It was a great time the first season,” Brooks said. “Everybody enjoyed how hard our guys played. The consensus was we played a lot more soundly than they had expected, so I think it was received very well.”
Brooks said fans can expect to see high-level basketball this season.
“Good basketball,” Brooks said. “You’ll see great heart out there. Quality team play. We plan to clean up a few of the things we need to do better from last year. We want to play high-level basketball and push the envelope again.”
The Rams’ get busy after Jan. 1.
Port Angeles will host games with the Tacoma Kings on Jan. 5 and Feb. 9, the Seattle Mountaineers on Jan. 19 and the Blue Angels on Feb. 16. All games are at 4 p.m. at the Peninsula College gym.
Admission for those four contests is $10, with $2 off for students with ID, senior citizens, first responders and military service members. Children 5 and younger will be admitted free to those games.
“We will be bringing some quality teams to town,” Brooks said. The Seattle Mountaineers have three guys who played overseas including one guy who played in the [NBA Developmental] G-League.”
Community-service theme nights are planned and youth sports teams will be recognized at those contests, Brooks said.
“We appreciate all the help and support we’ve received thus far and hope they continue to be there to support us because we will be there to support them,” Brooks said.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
