BELLEVUE — The Peninsula College men snapped Bellevue’s nine-game winning streak, holding the Bulldogs 18 points under their average offensive output in a 76-70 road win that doubled as the North Region opener on Wednesday.
“Bellevue is literally the hottest team in America, they came in having won nine in a row, and they have been blowing out teams,” coach Donald Rollman said.
The second-ranked Pirates’ (1-0, 14-1) put held Bellevue scoreless during two long stretches in each half, shutting out Bellevue for 4:30 of the first half and again for 3:30 of the second.
“They average 88-89 points per game and have multiple games with 15 or more 3-pointers, so we knew we had to limit their ability to make shots from deep,” Rollman said. “And we did that, they went 3 of 19 and two of those came in the final minute, so we went 38 minutes of the game without giving up a 3.”
Roosevelt Williams led Peninsula with 22 points and eight rebounds.
“We did a great job of taking away their strength. That and rebounding the basketball, we had a ton of offensive rebounds.”
Malik Jackson posted a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards.
“Malik was huge, he took over for a stretch,” Rollman said. “We had a moment in the first half where I coached him up pretty hard and his response to coaching was great. He also had a couple of blocks that led to offense for us.”
Ese Onakpoma was the Pirates’ hottest shooter, knocking down 9 of 13 shots on his way to 19 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks.
“He was so balanced for us,” Rollman said.
Max D’Amato also drained 3 of 3 from beyond the arc to chip in with 13 points.
The Pirates visit Shoreline at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Peninsula 76, Bellevue 70
PC 33 43 — 76
Bell. 27 43 — 70
Peninsula (76) — Williams Jr. 22, Onakpoma 19, D’Amato 13, Jackson 10, Medlock Jr. 6, Dean 2, Olmstead 2, Ervin 2, McCullough.
Bellevue (70) — Tosi 28, Janssan 14, Briceno 7, Moriarty 7, Cole 6, Bates 3, Caldera 3, Thomas 2.
Women’s Basketball Bellevue 68, Peninsula 65, OT
BELLEVUE — If the Pirate women had to suffer a North Region defeat, it may as well come in the Region opener, according to head coach Alison Crumb.
Her No. 2 ranked Peninsula squad struggled offensively and didn’t quite have the defensive effort needed to beat the Bulldogs.
“Offensively, we were out of synch and missed a bunch of stuff we normally make,” Crumb said.
“We knew they were a good defensive team, I don’t think we made things as hard on them as we could have. I think we were rusty, it kind of felt that we hadn’t played in a while. It never felt like we were in control.”
Peninsula (0-1, 8-3) hadn’t played since Dec. 18.
Millie Long posted 20 points and 15 rebounds to lead the way.
Ituau Tuisaula led the Pirates with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Jenilee Donovan added 15 points and six rebounds.
The Pirates visit Shoreline (0-1, 8-6) on Saturday.
Bellevue 68, Peninsula 65 OT
PC 17 9 15 13 11 — 65
Bell. 15 9 17 13 14 — 68
Peninsula (65) — Tuisaula 21, Long 20, Donovan 15, Kamae 4, Hopson 2, Moss 2, Marini 2, Kaganak 1, Brown, Vaaia.
Bellevue (68) — Huerta 24, Aasland 18, Byrnes 14, Van Ess 5, Blauman 5, Mueller 2.
