MOUNT VERNON — The Peninsula College basketball men completed a three-game sweep at the Skagit Valley College Turkey Tournament, winning with explosive offensive and clutch defense down the stretch.
The men, who pushed their record to 4-1 on the season, beat Northwest Indian College on Sunday 106-56. The Pirates got ahead 22-0 before the Eagles scored a point.
The Pirates cruised despite shooting just 25.8 percent (8 for 31) from 3-point range. However, they shot a torrid 60.7 percent (37 for 61) on their 2-pointers. Peninsula got off a whopping 92 shots in the game, helped by a 61-22 edge in rebounding.
The Pirates also beat Pierce 75-63 on Saturday, outscoring the Raiders 13-3 down the stretch. They also beat Green River 93-82 on Friday.
In the three wins, the Pirates averaged 91.3 points a game.
“We’re playing hard. We covered all the bases in games this weekend,” said head coach Donald Rollman.
Rollman said the Pirates played really well in their Friday win over Green River, didn’t play so great but found a way to win over Pierce and then got everyone on the scoring sheet in their Sunday victory.
He also said the team isn’t getting full of itself after a 4-1 start to its season.
“We gotta get a lot better,” Rollman said. “We want to make sure that we stay humble in victory. We’re excited, but we have to keep pushing hard.”
In Sunday’s win, Peninsula had five players in double figures. Davien Harris-Williams led the team with 19 points, while Jaylin Reed and Marquis Gurske each had 18. Gurske led the team in rebounds with 12, while Harris-Williams had nine boards.
Port Angeles Roughrider Gabe Long had his best game of the year for the Pirates, scoring 12 points and pulling down five boards.
Andrew Thomas had 11 points and nine rebounds, while Everett Rorres-Kahapea had nine points. O’Nuer Gatluak had a great game defensively with seven blocks and eight rebounds. Jannik Rothrock led the Pirates with five assists.
Peninsula 106, NW Indian College 56
NWIC 21 35 — 56
PC 54 52 — 106
NWIC (56) — Sotomish 15, Howe 12, Marqueda 9, Thompson 8, Tilleguots 4, Whitehorse 4, Jefferson 2, Salabiye 2.
Peninsula (106) — Harris-Williams 19, Gurske 18, Reed 18, Long 12, Thomas 11, Rorres-Kahapea 9, Gatluak 7, Despain 4, Hunter-Holiday 4, Rothrock 4.
Saturday’s Game Peninsula 75, Pierce 63
This game was actually much closer than the score indicates, as the Pirates held just a 62-60 lead with 3:53 left. But Peninsula was clutch down the stretch, outscoring the Raiders 13-3 down the stretch, allowing just one Pierce bucket and forcing three turnovers over the final 3:53.
Reed and KeAndre Hunter-Holiday each hit layups and Malik Moore, who was perfect from the free-throw line all game, hit a pair from the charity stripe to give the Pirates a 68-61 lead. Everett Rorres-Kahapea hit a layup and was fouled for a free throw and a three-point play to seal the game at 71-61 with 1:39 left to play.
Peninsula actually got out to a huge lead early in the second half, pulling out to a 42-23 lead with 17:30 left in the game. The Raiders went on a huge run, outscoring to Pirates 23-7 over 7½ minutes to get back in the game at 49-46. The game remained close until the final two minutes, though the Pirates never gave up the lead.
“We stopped doing the little things that had made us successful,” Rollman said.
However, the Pirates got “gritty and paid attention to the details” in the last five minutes of the game. Rollman was especially proud of his freshmen. Over those final five minutes, he only had one sophomore on the floor and four freshmen.
“It was a little bit of an ugly win,” he said.
The Pirates had a lot of balance with four players in double figures. Rorres-Kahapea led the team with 19 points, while Reed had 16, Harris-Williams 13 and Moore 10. Moore led the Pirates with seven rebounds. Sequim’s Nate Despain had four steals.
Peninsula (4-1) finally plays a home game at 7 p.m. Saturday against the British Columbia Christian Academy in the Wilder Pirate Classic. At 1 p.m. Sunday, the Pirates host Clackamas, one of the top teams in the NWAC. Peninsula’s only loss so far this season is to Clackamas, which is 4-0.
Peninsula 75, Pierce 63
PC 35 40 — 75
Pierce 23 40 — 63
Peninsula (75) — Rorres-Kahapea 19, Reed 16, Harris-Williams 13, Moore 10, Hunter-Holiday 5, Thomas 3, Gatluak 3, Despain 2, Long 2.
Pierce (63) — Cady 16, Kerson 15, Yearby 10, Williams 8, Howard 5, Bates 3, Staggers 3, Bowser 2.
