SEQUIM — Sometimes it pays to have a little faith.
With 6.3 seconds remaining and Sequim and Port Angeles knotted at 34-all, Wolves coach Greg Glasser put his trust in senior Nick Faunce and was rewarded .
Faunce knocked in his only points of the night, a rim-rattling 6-footer with 2.5 seconds to play, to give Sequim a 36-34 boys basketball win on senior night against the rival Roughriders.
“It feels good,” Faunce said. “Senior night, all I can really ask for is to get that win. All I did was make one shot.
“Coach had faith in me. We talked it out, and usually when coach has faith in me I do what he says.
“I give [credit] to him, I hadn’t made a shot all night.”
Anatomy of a game-winner
Faunce came open off a screen from Jack Shea, caught Payton Glasser’s inbound pass, drove toward the hoop and drew a foul on Port Angeles’ Luke Angevine before putting up the shot.
The winning play, which also had the Wolves’ Jackson Oliver running wide to the left for a potential lob, worked as Glasser intended.
“We felt we would get Nick coming off the screen and that’s exactly what we got,” Glasser said.
Oliver drew enough attention to momentarily delay Port Angeles from closing out on Faunce.
“You hope that [Oliver draws the defense] and you hope Payton doesn’t throw that lob, he’s done that a few times,” Glasser said.
“But we talked about going to Nick. We said six seconds is a long time and you can drive to the rim.”
After drawing contact Faunce thought he would be whistled for an offensive foul.
“I thought I was going to get a charge call,” he said.
“I looked at the ref after the whistle.”
Glasser also braced for an offensive foul.
“I kind of held my breath for a second because I was kind of blocked by our guys, and with these guys [referees] you just don’t know,” Glasser said.
Port Angeles coach Kasey Ulin praised Faunce for his big shot.
“We were looking for that backdoor play to Jackson and we covered it well,” Ulin said.
“Nick just got the ball and made an aggressive move and made a great play. It was an aggressive drive and a great finish.”
The shot capped an 8-0 Sequim run over the final 4 minutes and 30 seconds of the game.
Lambros Rogers scored on two drives to the lane to put the Riders up 34-28.
“Lambros made a couple of nice plays and got us up six,” Ulin said.
“We had a chance to put the game away right there, but you can’t let teams hang around, especially at home, especially in a rivalry game.”
The Wolves started the fourth quarter by missing their first nine shots, but timely offensive rebounding and a hustle play on loose ball kept them in the game.
Freshman Nate Despain rebounded Shea’s missed 3 and gave the ball back to him for a bucket from short range.
Oliver won a scrap with Grayson Peet for the ball at midcourt and hit a foul shot to pull Sequim with three, 34-31 with just more than two minutes to play.
Despain hit the second-biggest shot of the night with 1:29 remaining, swishing a 3 from the right wing, to tie the game at 34-all.
“They were missing, missing, missing, and all of a sudden they hit the big 3-pointer and the momentum had changed,” Ulin said.
“But we should have never been there, we had a chance to stretch our lead and we didn’t get stops or make shots.
“I have to give Sequim credit, the last four minutes or so, it looked like they wanted it a little more. We were a little timid and they made more plays down the stretch.”
The game was a back-and-forth affair from the opening tip.
Port Angeles led 10-9 after one quarter, and 22-21 at halftime on a buzzer-beating 3 by Angevine.
Angevine’s shot called to mind a 3 by Peet that beat the clock and gave the Riders the lead in the two rivals’ first meeting, a 37-31 Port Angeles win.
“Wasn’t that identical to the first game?” Glasser said.
“They hit a three to end the half and take the momentum.”
Angevine led the Riders with 12 points, and had eight rebounds and two steals.
Rogers added nine points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots for the Riders.
Oliver topped all scorers with 14 points and added seven rebounds for Sequim.
Glasser summed up the hard-fought, but respectful nature of the rivalry game.
“No matter where we are in the league, top or bottom, it’s always fun to get together and play that game because you know its going to be a great atmosphere and a really fun game.”
“That’s one [win] that really helps make this season special for the kids.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
