SEQUIM — ’Tis the season for giving.
The Sequim Wolves gave the ball to each other and received a 65-60 win over Neah Bay on Wednesday night.
“That’s the key for us this year: if we can share the ball, then we’ll be pretty good,” Sequim senior Jack Shea said
“If we try to be better athletes and take [opponents] one-on-one then it’s not going to work out.
“We’ve got to be able to share the ball to be successful.”
Trailing 28-26 at halftime, the Wolves adjusted and began running their offense through the high post.
Their post players, particularly Shea and Nick Faunce, became passers who looked for baseline cutters for easy shots.
It worked. Sequim made 15 of its 21 second-half field goals to beat Neah Bay for the third consecutive time in what has become a fun once-a-year rivalry between the Class 2A Wolves and the 1B Red Devils.
“We made that extra pass tonight, which was good to see,” Sequim coach Greg Glasser said.
The Wolves actually shot well the entire game — they also made 9 of 15 in the first half and, overall, shot 63 percent from the field.
But in the first half they struggled against Neah Bay’s zone, which featured 6-foot-1 Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. at the top wreaking havoc on Sequim’s perimeter passing.
It’s a lot like what the Wolves faced in their 68-50 loss Tuesday night at Bremerton.
“It was a real similar defense, and so that was good for us to see it again and then to learn,” Glasser said.
“Passing across the top of the zone there is really difficult against Rweha, who’s so long and athletic. And so we did make some adjustments trying to get our guys to attack it a little bit more.
“And when we got the ball to the high post, we created easy shots for our guys.”
Three Wolves scored in double figures, led by Jackson Oliver’s 24 points. Payton Glasser added 13 and Faunce scored 11.
Of that trio’s 48 points, 35 came in the second half.
“It was tough for us to work around their 1-3-1 zone, but we were able to really get the ball into the high post and really start sharing the ball,” Oliver said.
“We tried to do too many one-on-one things, and that’s been a focus this year . . . just sharing.
“We’ve got some good shooters out there, but when the shots aren’t falling, you just really got to try and get it to the paint.”
Sequim stuck to its man-to-man defense the entire game, but it did adjust a little bit throughout the game.
“They only thing different was that we were guarding them a little tighter,” Greg Glasser said.
“Kenrick [Doherty] and Ryan [Moss] shoot it so well that you got to play them really tight and get them to put the ball on the ground.”
Neah Bay made 5 of 15 3-pointers in the first half, and that accounted for 15 of its 28 points in the first two quarters. In the second half, the Red Devils made only 2 of 10 treys.
Moss led Neah Bay with 18 points, while Munyagi had 17 and Doherty scored 14.
As a team, the Red Devils made only 20 of 60 shots from the field. They were playing their first game of the season, and many players are less than two weeks removed from playing in the 1B state football semifinals.
“A lot of it, I think, has to do with fatigue,” Neah Bay coach Stan Claplanhoo.
“Kids get tired, you know? And they’re in football shape. It will take us a couple weeks.
“When you’re tired, things start to fall apart a little bit. Your legs go, and your shot goes.”
Despite all that, the Red Devils stayed close to the Wolves the entire game. Sequim’s largest lead of the game was eight points in the fourth quarter, but 27 seconds later Neah Bay had cut that down to four points.
“We did pretty good. We played to the end, kids fought hard,” Claplanhoo said.
“We need to work a little bit on watching for those man-to-man back cuts, but we played hard.”
The Red Devils play at Taholah tonight.
Sequim (2-1) plays at Port Townsend (0-3) on Monday.
Sequim 65, Neah Bay 60
Neah Bay 11 17 15 17— 60
Sequim 7 19 22 17— 65
Individual scoring
Neah Bay (60)
Munyagi 17, McGimpsey 6, Doherty 14, Moss 18, Buttram 5, Bitegeko, Buzzell, Dulik.
Sequim (65)
Glasser 13, Shea 4, B. Despain 3, N. Despain 1, Oliver 24, Faunce 11, Black 2, Cowan 7.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
