PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles’ senior night was a rousing success as the Roughriders rolled Kingston 80-37 in a game that saw Roughriders’ senior Parker Nickerson break the 1,000-point mark for his career.
“Last night was phenomenal,” coach Kasey Ulin said. “It was a Port Angeles basketball celebration. Honoring our seven seniors was great, the energy was high and it was great for our players and families to celebrate their careers.
“The message pregame was to continue having a high level of focus and playing start to finish. Every game is the postseason now, so no dip in focus or concentration from how we played Tuesday [taking North Kitsap to the limit in a 76-71 defeat].”
Ulin was particularly proud of Port Angeles’ defensive effort.
“Lowest point total we’ve allowed all year defensively and everybody who came into the game made an impact,” Ulin said.
Isaiah Shamp led the way for the Riders.
“Isaiah was unbeliveable,” Ulin said. “He had 20 points, six rebounds and five steals in 12 minutes.”
Nickerson eclipsed 1,000 points early on.
“He hit his first shot in the first minute of the game to break 1,000 points,” Ulin said. “He didn’t want a celebration, he’s a team-first kid, but he wanted to honor the seniors and the team. We did stop the game and he took a picture with his friends.”
Seniors Kason Albaugh (12) and Ezra Townsend (10) also reached double figures in scoring.
“Ezra is playing some really good basketball for us,” Ulin said. “He had two 3s, had seven rebounds and he had a heartfelt talk in the locker room before the game. He’s our heart and soul and the best teammate ever.”
Port Angeles (9-3, 13-6) hosts Sequim in the opener of a boys/girls doubleheader at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Port Angeles 80, Kingston 37
Kingston 11 7 10 9 — 37
Port Angeles 26 14 21 19— 80
Port Angeles (80) — Shamp 20, Nickerson 17, Albaugh 12, Townsend 10, Hoch 7, G. Halberg 6, Dunning 5, Heins 3.
Forks drops close contests
FORKS — The Spartans dropped a heartbreaker Thursday night when Warriors Pacific League MVP candidate Michael Spino hit the eventual game-winning 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in a 54-51 defeat.
“About 15 hours after getting home from playing at Ilwaco against the league champs we had to turn around and play the one team that beat them this year,” coach Keith Weekes said. “The boys put up such a good fight.”
Forks fell 82-72 away to the Fishermen on Wednesday night.
“We came out of halftime and just attacked against Chief Leschi,” Weekes said. “We are usually responsive, this game we tried to be the ones to push the issue. Outside of a couple minutes in the second quarter when Chief Leschi hit a few back-to-back shots to create some separation this game was two teams just battling.
“This one slipped away from us, literally at times,” Weekes said.
“We had numerous self inflicted turnovers from simply losing our footing or losing the ball.”
Aidan Salazar totaled 19 points, five steals and four assists to lead Forks, while Kyle Lohrengel added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.
“This is playoff basketball,” Weekes said. “We played hard and played well against two teams, in a 24-hour span, that will be in the postseason, and one of which went to state last year.
Forks (7-5, 11-9) opens Class 2B District Four Tournament play against Rainier today at noon at Montesano.
Chief Leschi 54, Forks 51
Chief Leschi 15 17 11 11 — 54
Forks 13 11 19 8 — 51
Forks (51) — Salazar 19, Lohrengel 11, Lausche 8, Davis 6, Micheau 3, Olson 2, Rowley 2, Davila.
