PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team was the surprise story of the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament in March, bringing home a third-place trophy, but don’t look for the Pirates to sneak up on anyone in this season.
Head coach Mitch Freeman and his staff have four starters back, eight sophomores with game experience, and recruiting class they’re proud of — all looking to take the Pirates to the NWAC championship.
“We are excited about this year’s team and look to build off of how we finished last year,” Freeman said.
“We return nine players and add six freshman, which gives the added depth to our team that we did not have last season.
“Our team was very excited with the way we finished last year but were also a little disappointed, which left them hungry and wanting more.”
The list of returners is headed up by Ryley Callaghan, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard from Port Orchard who led the Pirates in scoring, with a 17.5 average, and assists, 2.7 per game, last year.
Also putting up big numbers last year was Deonte Dixon, a 6-2 sophomore guard from Bremerton. He averaged an impressive 16.4 points per game.
Both Callaghan and Dixon were named to the All-North Division Team in 2014-15.
The Pirates return their leading rebounder in 6-6 sophomore Malik Mayeux of Tacoma, who pulled down 154 boards last year, a 7.3 average per game.
Also returning with a significant contribution to last year’s success are Jeremiah Hobbs, a 6-4 forward from Seattle; Jonah Cook, a 6-9 forward from Mount Vernon; Chris Reis, a 5-9 guard from Spokane; and Zach Nibler, a 6-4 forward from Olympia.
Peninsula’s other two returners are redshirt freshman C.J. Woods, a 6-0 guard from Friday Harbor, who was injured last year, and redshirt sophomore Dimitri Amos, a 6-6 forward from Las Vegas, who is expected to make a big impact in the paint for the Pirates.
Amos played his freshman year at Mayville State University in North Dakota, and although he didn’t play a minute for Peninsula, his potential caused a buzz among his teammates last season.
“I thought that the guys worked extremely hard in the offseason, both in the weight room and on the court, to improve themselves individually,” Freeman said.
“Also, last year’s team finished with a 3.1 cumulative GPA, which is one of the better team GPAs that men’s basketball has had in the history of Pirate basketball. This shows how hard they work both on the court and in the classroom.”
Freeman enters his third year at the helm and returns his coaching staff that includes Jon Ing, originally of Hood River, Ore., and Brian Shirley of Port Angeles.
That coaching staff recruited a class of freshmen that includes Alex Baham, a 6-4 guard from Wasilla, Alaska; Darrior Daniels, a 5-10 guard from Las Vegas; Omar Lo, a 6-6 guard from Los Angeles; Alex Losee, a 6-6 forward from South Jordan, Utah; Jalon McCullough, a 5-9 guard from Fairbanks, Alaska; and Abraham Venske, a 6-2 guard from Neah Bay.
“Our expectations for this year are to continue to excel in the classroom and to get better every time we step on the basketball floor,” Freemain said.
“If we concentrate on what we can control, which is working hard and being a great teammate, we will be happy with the results we get.”
The Pirates tip off their 2015-16 schedule with a scrimmage Saturday at 4 p.m. against Camosun College of Victoria.
The preseason schedule also includes Pirate Tip-off on Nov. 6, a home scrimmage against the Seattle Mountaineers on Nov. 7 and a scrimmage at Wenatchee on Nov. 14.
The Peninsula men will then open their non-conference schedule, one that features four home games, at home Nov. 20 against Big Bend.
North Division play begins Jan. 9.
Also new in 2015-16, the NWAC basketball tournament moves to Everett, March 10-13, after 14 years at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
