By Jim Hoehn
Special to Peninsula Daily News
EVERETT — In the long run, an almost perfect first five minutes by the Peninsula Pirates didn’t matter at all.
Peninsula scored the first 13 points of the game but couldn’t sustain its offense in the second half and saw its season come to an end with a 75-64 loss to Tacoma on Friday in the Elite Eight of the NWAC Championship Tournament.
“We couldn’t create any rhythm offensively in the second half,” said Peninsula coach Mitch Freeman. “That directly affected our energy on the defensive end. Credit them a little bit, because we couldn’t get the looks, because we couldn’t attack inside-out.”
Tacoma, which trailed 36-29 at the half, used a 17-6 run to take its first lead of the game at 47-46 on William Moore’s 3-pointer from the left side with just over 11 minutes remaining.
The Titans pushed the lead to 51-46 as the Pirates missed six consecutive shots. Omar Lo finally snapped a scoreless span of almost six minutes by hitting two of three free throws with 7:35 left. Trent Warren followed with two more free throws to pull the Pirates within 51-50.
Tacoma scored six consecutive points, making it a three-possession game at 61-54 on Ravion Bell’s layin with 3:52 left.
The Pirates (19-9) pulled within 67-60 on two free throws by Warren with 1:01 remaining, but the Titans hit six free throws in the closing minute.
“I think even being down a possession or two felt like three or four possessions down because we couldn’t seem to create the rhythm and plays offensively,” Freeman said.
Peninsula, the No. 2 seed in the North Region, made just 9 of 36 shots for 25 percent in the second half, including 0 for 10 beyond the arc. The Pirates also committed 16 turnovers.
Freshman point guard Jalon McCullough led the Pirates with 16 points, Lo added 15 and Warren had 11 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Darrion Daniels, who had 20 points in the Pirates’ 70-62 opening win over Portland, had just six points on 3-of-13 shooting.
Bell causes problems
Khalil Thompson had 20 points, including 10 of 10 from the free-throw line, for the Tacoma, which came from behind to upset top-ranked North Idaho 86-81 in the opener. Kahliel Wyatt added 15 points and 14 rebounds; and Bell, a 6-9 sophomore center, had nine points and 14 rebounds, and was a disruptive defensive force.
“The big guy, Bell, was a game-changer,” Freeman said. “We couldn’t really attack inside-out the way we wanted to to create open looks for the outside guys and we just shot the ball poorly.”
“They didn’t need to crowd us inside, because we couldn’t score inside effectively,” he said.
“And then, the guys were able to stay on our shooters, so we couldn’t get any clean, open looks.”
Lo scored six early points to help the Pirates to a 13-0 lead. Dayton Pascua finally got the Titans on the board with a 3-pointer with 14:59 remaining.
Peninsula pushed the margin to 20-5 on a jumper from the right corner by Cole Rabedeaux, but the Titans answered with nine consecutive points, cutting the lead to 20-14 on a two-handed jam by Bell.
The Pirates maintained the lead the rest of the half, with the largest at nine points, the last at 36-27 on a 3-pointer from the left corner with 38 seconds left.
Bell added another dunk to pull the Titans within 36-29 at the break.
“I thought we played the best 20 minutes,” Freeman said. “I thought we did a great job, came out with a lot of energy. The guys were really dialed in, showed a lot of toughness. We were able to catch them off-guard a little bit, I think. We did a good job in that regard for 20 minutes.”
Tacoma 75, Peninsula 64
Tacoma 29 46 — 75
Peninsula 36 28 — 64
Tacoma (75) — Thompson 20, Wyatt 15, Pascua 12, Bell 9, Moore 6, Fountain 5, Powers 4, Carter 2, Shaw 2.
Peninsula (64) — McCullough 16, Lo 15, Warren 11, Rabedeaux 7, Daniels 6, Velez 5, Baham 4.
Rick Ross/Peninsula College Peninsula head coach Mitch Freeman puts his hands on his head during his team’s season-ending 75-64 defeat at the NWAC men’s basketball tournament on Friday at Everett Community College.
