PORT ANGELES — There was no denying Port Angeles in the opening round of the Class 2A District 2/3 Boys Basketball Tournament Wednesday night.
Looking inside consistently for buckets in the early going offensively and turning over No. 5 seed Franklin Pierce repeatedly on defense, the Roughriders rolled out to a 25-7 lead on the Cardinals after one quarter on their way to a 68-51 triumph.
“I thought we came out with great focus and energy,” coach Kasey Ulin said. A 25-7 first quarter that was really one of our best efforts of the season on both sides of the ball. They executed the game plan really, really well.”
Port Angeles (17-4) never allowed Franklin Pierce closer than 16 points in the second half as the Riders clinched their first state regional round appearance since a state regional visit in 2010-11.
“I’m happy for this group, these guys have been working for this for the better part of two years,” Ulin said. “I’m happy for our other groups, like Easton Joslin an assistant coach, and other guys who have been so close over the last four or five years on so many occasions with bad breaks and things not going our way, so I’m really happy for our guys.”
Port Angeles will face tournament top seed and WIAA RPI No. 2 White River (17-2) in the district semifinals Friday night at 7:45 p.m. at Sammamish High School. White River edged Bremerton 74-62 on Wednesday night to advance.
Wyatt Dunning led the way for the Riders with 28 points in Wednesday’s win.
John Vaara added 12 despite having to sit the entire second quarter due to foul trouble.
Sophomore Isaiah Shamp came on to provide some size inside for Port Angeles in that second quarter and delivered four points in his varsity debut as the Riders were able to extend their lead to 42-23 at halftime.
“A sophomore that hasn’t played any varsity and we brought him up for a moment like that, it’s so fun to see a kid take advantage of the opportunities presented to him,” Ulin said.
“He comes in and provides some unbelievable defense and rebounding and scoring. That was a huge lift for us to be able to keep John on the bench for the entire second quarter.”
Franklin Pierce (13-5) cut into Port Angeles’ advantage in third, trimming the lead to 16 points at 48-32 with 1:30 left to play in the quarter. But the Riders got baskets from Vaara, Maestas and a 3 just before the buzzer from Dunning to close out the frame on a 7-0 run up 55-32.
Ulin realizes his team needs to continue to improve its play against the tougher competition they’ll face in the remainder of the postseason. Port Angeles didn’t play mistake-free basketball in the second half as the Cardinals pressed and trapped in a frantic effort to get back into the game.
“For me, we need to get better,” Ulin said. “This is one more goal that we have accomplished: we wanted to win a league championship, we did that. We wanted to make state, we did that. Now it’s we want to go and win a district championship.
“And they know we need to improve, it’s what we talked about in the locker room after the game.”
Port Angeles 68, Franklin Pierce 51
FP 7 16 9 19 — 51
PA 25 17 13 13 — 68
Franklin Pierce (51): Thomas 19, Jo. Barbee 15, Ja. Barbee 10, J. Weekly 5, N. Weekly 2.
Port Angeles (68): Dunning 28, Vaara 12, Maestas 11, Nickerson 7, Wheeler 5, Shamp 4, Soule, Gundersen, Townsend.
