PORT ANGELES — The Northwest Athletic Conference annual basketball regional crossover tournaments get under way this week with the Pirate men hosting for three days and the women traveling to Pendleton, Ore.
Green River College was scheduled to host the West Region Crossover, but the Gators lost their gym for the season due to floor construction and offered the tournament to Peninsula. The other two regions represented will be Blue Mountain (East Region) and Umpqua (South Region).
“We jumped at the opportunity to host this, despite being a bit thin on game crew this time of year,” said Rick Ross, Peninsula College’s associate dean of athletics. “We’re looking forward to some great college basketball games. Our men are playing good ball right now and I know they want another crack at Green River.”
Green River, the 2022-23 West Region second-place finishers, is 6-3 and beat the Pirates 95-73 at the Titan Classic in Tacoma back on Nov. 17. Umpqua is off to a strong start at 7-3. They also made the NWAC Tournament last year as the fourth seed from the South Region. Blue Mountain, meanwhile, is 1-6 this year, representing the South Region.
The schedule has Blue Mountain versus Green River at 5 p.m. Thursday, followed by the Pirates hosting Umpqua at 7 p.m.. On Friday, it will be Green River playing Umpqua at 5 p.m. and Peninsula hosting Blue Mountain at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, Umpqua and Blue Mountain square off at noon, with the Pirates closing out the tournament against Green River at 2 p.m.
“Green River has a 7-foot post and a pretty talented group and Umpqua is going to be a good test, as well. And we won’t be overlooking Blue Mountain,” Ross said. “We knew our sophomores were going to be pretty solid, and now our big freshman class is beginning to find themselves, so there should be some fun basketball to watch.”
Meanwhile, the Pirate women, 5-2 on the young season, will travel to Blue Mountain in Pendleton to play in the East Region Crossover, taking on the host Timberwolves (3-5) at 6 p.m. Thursday, Chemeketa (2-4), out of Salem, Ore., at 2 p.m. Friday and Green River (6-2) at noon Saturday.
Both the Peninsula men and women will take a break for the Christmas holiday and return with games starting up again in January.
