PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team gave the No. 1-ranked Skagit Valley Cardinals everything they could handle for most of Wednesday night’s game in Port Angeles.
Over the final four minutes, the 19-1 Cardinals were finally able to pull away a bit for a 72-60 win.
“They’re No. 1 for a reason,” said Peninsula coach Bryce Jacobson.
“That really didn’t feel like a 12-point game,” Jacobson said. “I’m really proud of our gays. This is the kind of game we can build on. We’re going to continue to get better.”
This game genuinely was close throughout as the Pirates, fired up to pull off a major upset, were up and at the halftime break, down just two points with 6:50 left and down just two possessions with 4:30 left.
Peninsula went into the half up 33-31 as the trio of Isaiah Lopez, Jaiden Blackmon and Akeem Sulaiman led the way. Lopez hit a pair of 3-pointers and had 10 points at the break, while Blackmon and Sulaiman each had nine.
Inside and out
Skagit Valley, which had a lot of size on the Pirates, was able to open up a little bit of a gap at 52-46 midway through the second half, but Sulaiman cut the lead in half with a 3-pointer with 8:30 left. Sulaiman added a bucket and a foul with 6:50 left, hitting the free throw to make it 54-52 with 6:50 left in the game.
That was when Skagit Valley’s size took over as the Cardinals behind their 6-foot-7 post Sylas Williams started pulling away, going on a 6-0 run.
Antonio Odum hit a 3-pointer to make it 62-57 with 4:35 left. The Cardinals finished strong, however, going on another 8-0 run to make it 70-57, cruising to the final buzzer from that point. Williams was a force in the second half and finished with 26 points and 16 rebounds.
The Pirates shortened their bench for this one as all five of their starters played at least 30 minutes and Lopez and Blackmon each played 39.
Odum had a great second half and was near-perfect. He scored 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting, including 2-for-2 on 3-pointers. He shot 2-for-3 on free throws. He also led the team with eight rebounds and four assists.
Sulaiman led the Pirates with 18 points and seven rebounds while Lopez finished with 14 points and four assists and Blackmon scored 12 to go with six rebounds.
Returning for a visit
Port Angeles’ Parker Nickerson played 13 minutes for Skagit Valley and drilled a corner 3-pointer in the first half on his only shot. He also had two assists. Both the Port Angeles boys and girls basketball teams attended the game with Nickerson and Paige Mason playing for Skagit Valley.
Peninsula (2-3, 8-10) next hosts Everett (2-3, 9-10) at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Skagit Valley 72, Peninsula 60
Skagit Valley 31 41— 72
Peninsula 33 27— 60
SVC (72) — Williams 26, O’Connor 21, Gooding 10, Jackson 8, Nickerson 3, Mkpa 2, Russ 2.
Peninsula (60) — Sulaiman 18, Odum 14, Lopez 14, Blackmon 12, Rushmeyer 2.
