YAKIMA — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team lost its finale at the Yakima Valley Tournament, dropping a 77-66 game to Yakima on Saturday.
The Pirates went 1-2 in three games at the tournament. In both of their losses, they got off to slow starts and second-half rallies came up short.
“Guys got off to a slow start. We weren’t sure why, to be honest,” said coach Donald Rollman.
“The guys will be disappointed as far as their own standards,” Rollman said. “I didn’t have to say too much to them. They know.”
Against Yakima, Peninsula was down 45-31 at the half and fell behind further at 53-34 early in the second half. The Pirates went on a furious 28-8 run over a span of nearly 12 minutes to actually take a brief lead at 62-61 with 4:56 left in the game. The Yaks sank a 3-pointer and made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:24 of the game to fend off the Pirates and close out the victory.
Jaylin Reed led the Pirates with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Reed had a huge tournament in Yakima, averaging 26.7 points in three games. D’Ante Dean chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds while Isaac Garcia had 10 points.
Rollman said Reed was “fantastic” at the tournament and added rebounds (9.7 boards a game) and great defense to his points.
The Pirates (8-4) take a break over Christmas and return to action at Highline (3-9) on Dec. 30 in the Pirates’ final game before North Division play begins in January.
Yakima Valley 77, Peninsula 66
PC 31 35 — 66
YV 45 32 — 77
Peninsula (66) — Reed 25, Dean 12, Garcia 10, Hunter-Holiday 8, McCullough 4, Harris 3, Williams 2, Welsh 2.
Yakima Valley (77) — Raynor 22, Turner 13, Braun 11, Delgado 9, Ilumoha 8, Murphy 4.
