EDMONDS — It was a tale of two different kinds of basketball styles for the Peninsula men in their season openers at the Tritons/Pirates Classic, as the Pirates won a defensive battle in their opener and lost a high-octane scorefest.
There was a 47-point scoring differential between the Pirates’ first two opponents.
Peninsula lost to an undefeated (4-0) Clackamas College team 103-86 on Sunday as the Cougars shot over 50 percent from the floor. On Saturday, the Pirates won their season opener 71-56 over Grays Harbor as the Chokers made just 18 field goals for the entire game.
In Sunday’s loss, Peninsula’s Davien Harris-Williams, last year’s leading scorer for the Pirates at 16.8 a game, got off to a hot start on the season by pouring in 30 points. He shot 11-for-22 from the floor, including 6-for-11 from 3-point range.
Newcomer Jaylin Reed had his second good game in a row for the Pirates, scoring 15. O’Nuer Gatluk scored nine points, while Andrew Thomas scored eight.
Both teams hit 13 3-pointers and free throws were nearly identical — Clackamas was 16-for-20, while Peninsula was 15-for-19. The difference was field-goal percentage as Clackamas shot 50.7 percent (37-for-73) and the Pirates shot 26.7 percent (29-for-79).
Sequim graduate Nate Despain scored five points and had three assists, while Port Angeles Roughrider Gabe Long scored a basket and had two rebounds.
Clackamas 103, Peninsula 86
Clack. 52 51 — 103
PC 39 47 — 86
Clackamas (103) — Ford 20, Stull 19, Bashaw 17, Sullivan 13, Carter 12, Warren 8, Tafua 6, Byers 4, Onishchenko, O’Brien 2.
Peninsula (86) — Harris-Williams 30, Reed 15, Gatlauk 9, Thomas 8, Rorres-Kahapea 7, Hunter-Holiday 7, Despain 5, Moore 3, Long 2.
Saturday’s Game Peninsula 71, Grays Harbor 56
The Pirates won their season-opener Saturday at the Tritons/Pirates Classic, beating a previously unbeaten Grays Harbor squad 71-56.
Peninsula got 17 points from Reed in his first game for the Pirates. Reed poured in his points in just 15 minutes of play. Everett Rorres-Kahapea scored 11 points in his first game for Peninsula and Despain hit a 3-pointer and scored 10 points in his first-ever college game. He also had three assists.
Malik Moore gobbled up 15 rebounds for the Pirates, while Rorres-Kahapea added six assists and seven rebounds.
The Pirates dominated on the boards, pulled down 49 rebounds to the Chokers’ 25. Grays Harbor came in to Saturday’s game with a 3-0 record.
Long also got in the game for 16 minutes, hitting a 3-pointer and scoring three points while dishing out four assists. Jannik Rothrock, another one of Peninsula’s many newcomers, scored nine points for the Pirates.
How different were the styles of play in these two games? In the win over Grays Harbor, the Chokers took just 43 shots, 30 fewer than Clackamas in the Cougars’ win over the Pirates. Peninsula held Grays Harbor to just five offensive rebounds for the game.
Peninsula (1-0) next plays at Green River (4-1) at the Skagit Valley Turkey Tournament in Mount Vernon on Friday.
Peninsula 71, Grays Harbor 56
GH 22 34 — 56
PC 33 38 — 71
Grays Harbor (56) — Schoepf 19, R. Pearson 12, M. Pearson 12, Marrotte 5.
Peninsula (71) — Reed 17, Rorres-Kahapea 11, Despain 10, Rothrock 9, Moore 8, Hunter-Holiday 7, Thomas 6, Long 3.
