PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team has achieved everything it wanted in the regular season.
The Pirates are Northwest Athletic Conference North Region champions. They’re hosting a first-round postseason game.
There’s still two games left in the regular season. Now what?
“I’m no sure, I’ve never been in this position,” sophomore guard Ryley Callaghan said after Peninsula clinched the North title with a 66-62 victory over Bellevue on Saturday.
“It’s my first time in this position, too, so we’re just going to go with the coaching plan, the game plan, the next two games.
“You know, I don’t think anything’s going to change, we’re still going to play hard.”
The Pirates (10-2, 17-9), who are ranked fifth in the lastest NWAC coaches poll, finish the regular season on the road, first tonight at Skagit Valley (4-8, 11-14), and then Saturday at Shoreline (4-8, 9-14).
“Nothing changes,” Pirates coach Mitch Freeman said.
“We have got to stay dialed in and stay the course with how we’re playing and what we’re doing, and preparation process and going into games.
“I feel like we’ve got this second season coming along right now, and we’ve got to be able to be prepared and take advantage of that.”
Skagit Valley and Shoreline are currently tied for last in the NWAC North, but no team in the region is an easy win, and the Cardinals and the Dolphins both challenged Peninsula before losing in Port Angeles last month.
The Pirates’ opponent in the first round of the NWAC tournament will be the fourth-place South Region team, either Chemeketa (7-7, 16-11) or Umpqua (7-7, 14-12).
Either team could be dangerous, particularly Chemeketa, which boasts wins over top-ranked Big Bend, third-ranked Lower Columbia, fourth-ranked Clark and sixth-ranked Clackamas this season.
The Storm also have a 2-1 record against North Region teams.
“We’ve just got to keep striving and keep working hard,” sophomore guard Deonte Dixon said.
“I feel like we [need to] bring it to practice and we practice even harder, because we know what we’re going to play for, we know what we got to do to win it, so we’ve just got to keep up with the hard work.”
Riding with experience
After the ceremonial cutting down of the net in honor of clinching the North Region Crown, Freeman said to assistant coach Jon Ing, “Should we meet?”
The coaches decided to have the customary postgame meeting in the locker room.
Freeman said part of the conversation focused on the team’s nine sophomores, who had just played their final regular-season home game.
“We talked about how super-proud we are as a coaching staff and I am of them,” Freeman said.
“We spent two years with this group, it’s a large group, and we’re super-proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish.
“I mean, it’s hard to talk about because you invest so much time and energy — I spend more time with these guys, it feels like, than with my actual family.
“So it means a lot. And so see them have the success, it’s pretty fun.”
Peninsula had only a couple players on the roster when Freeman was hired in late July 2013, so he had to scramble to round up whoever he could.
The following offseason, he was able to take his time, and he assembled a recruiting class that included Callaghan, Dixon, C.J. Woods, Dimitri Amos, Malik Mayeux, Chris Reis, Jeremiah Hobbs, Zach Nibler and Jonah Cook.
Those players were key to the Pirates’ surprise third-place finish at last year’s NWAC tournament, they also weathered a 7-7 nonregion slate that included highs such as wins over current No. 1 Big Bend and No. 4 Clark, but also lows like being the only NWAC team to lose to Grays Harbor.
The Pirates started North Region play with a 2-2 record, but have since reeled off eight consecutive wins.
But their roll has been a grind. Only two of those eight wins have been by double digits — the average margin is 6.4 points — and none have come easy. Sometimes they’ve had to come back from large deficits to win.
And experience has a lot to do with Peninsula’s success.
Freeman has settled on a seven- to eight-man rotation that leans heavily on the sophomores: Callaghan, Reis, Dixon, Mayeux and Hobbs have been the starters, and Amos and freshman are the first off the bench. Lately, Woods has joined squad as the eighth man.
“That’s what’s good about having a veteran team,” Callaghan said.
“We’ve never really panicked during the season at all. No matter how much we’re down by, we thing we can bring it back.
“It’s just our ability to, you know, our veteran leadership, step up in big moments, you know what I mean, hit tough shots, and then buckle down on the defensive and get stops when we need it.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
