PORT ANGELES — Davien Harris-Williams scored 29 points to lead Peninsula College to a 67-60 men’s basketball victory over Skagit Valley at home Wednesday night.
Harris-Williams shot 10 of 17 from the floor, including 6 of 13 on 3-point attempts, to go along with five rebounds and three assists as the Pirates bounced back from Saturday’s loss at Edmonds.
“That was big for him,” Peninsula coach Donald Rollman said. “He’s struggled lately because teams are pinpointing him. We’ve watched a lot of film together, he’s spent a ton of time in the gym and his shot selection is getting better. He hit some tough shots and got in a rhythm early.”
Rollman said the Pirates needed Harris-Williams’ scoring to get through a rough patch in the first half.
“We went on a lull for 5 or 6 minutes in the first half and I think he had three 3s in the last minute and a half to get us back up at halftime,” Rollman said.
Peninsula led by as much as 12 twice in the second half against the Cardinals, including 59-47 with 4 minutes to play, but Skagit Valley clawed back. The Cardinals pulled within four, trailing 64-60 with just over a minute to go.
A Pirates timeout led to a layup inside by Samuel Kahapea off an assist by Harris-Williams to put Peninsula up 66-60 with 47 seconds to play.
It was the second bucket coming out of a timeout for the Pirates in the final minutes.
“ATO’s, after timeouts, is something we have been stressing all year and executing out of timeouts is huge for us,” Rollman said. “We’ve lost a couple games not executing down the stretch, not valuing the basketball.
“We worked on very similar situations in practice Monday and Tuesday and we executed well there.”
Bounced back, focused in practice, put ourselves in those situations in practice, up five, up four late, try to simulate as much in practice as you can.
The Pirates forced a miss on the other end and Kahapea was fouled, hitting one of two free throws, to give Peninsula a three-possession lead at 67-60.
Peninsula outrebounded Skagit Valley 48-35 with Erik Kelly leading the way for the Pirates with 15 rebounds. Malik Moore was hampered with foul trouble, but still had had six boards, five of them on the offensive glass, to go along with six points.
“Rebounding was a big point at halftime that we stressed,” Rollman said. “Skagit is scrappy they get their hands on the ball. I was on them pretty hard because we were getting a lot of one-and-done trips in the first half.
“We ended up plus-11 on the boards in the second half, got us second-chance opportunities [offensively] and got us to the foul line. Rebounding was certainly a difference maker.”
The Pirates (2-1, 5-12) visit Olympic (0-3, 4-12) on Saturday.
Rollman grew up in Bremerton and coached at Olympic before coming to Peninsula.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Rollman said.
“The last couple of years I’ve brought some Pirate Proud T-shirts and given those out, so I’ll have some friends there in PC gear.”
Peninsula 67, Skagit Valley 60
SVC 29 31 — 60
PC 33 34 — 67
Skagit Valley (60) — Sheldon 14, Sharp 10, Jones 8, Russ 7, Chappell 6, Isakson 6, Bell 4, Michael 3, Robinson 2.
Peninsula (67) — Harris-Williams 29, Kahapea 13, Seldon 9, Moore 6, Kelly 5, Cleveland 5, Thomas, Glover.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
