PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles basketball boys got blitzed in a 14-3 third quarter to lose touch after a close first half in a home 55-34 loss to Olympic.
Friday’s game was for second place in the Olympic League 2A Division and initially, while the Roughriders were outplayed, it was close as Olympic took a 23-19 lead into the half.
But, the Trojans dominated much of the second half, going on a 14-3 run in the third quarter, then finishing the game on a 12-1 run after the Riders rallied early in the fourth quarter to get within striking range.
Coach Kasey Ulin said his team simply didn’t play well.
“Give Olympic a lot of credit, they played hard. They were the better team today,” Ulin said.
Ulin said the Riders could’ve been down 20 in the first half and were lucky to only be down by four points. Jaiden Mosley for the Trojans hit three of his five 3-pointers in that first half. Mosley ended up with 19 points.
“We didn’t play well in the third quarter, that’s on me. I’ll own it,” Ulin said.
Ulin said that while the Riders rallied in the second half, thanks largely to consecutive 3-pointers by Grayson Peet and a trey from Easton Joslin that cut a 40-22 Trojans’ lead down to 43-33 with five minutes left, the Riders weren’t playing their style of basketball and that Olympic remained in control.
Garrett Edwards led the Riders with nine points, while Peet had eight. Noah McGoff and Luke Angevine each scored six.
Olympic is now 4-1 in Olympic League 2A Division, tied with Kingston for second place one game behind North Kitsap.
Port Angeles (7-5, 3-2) is in third place. The Riders host 4-1 Kingston at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Olympic 55, Port Angeles 34
Olympic 13 10 14 18 — 55
PA 9 10 3 12 — 34
Olympic (55) — Matheny 13, Nelson 5, Mosley 19, Barron 2, Turnquist 13, Dean 3.
Port Angeles (34) — Edwards 9, Peet 8, McGoff 6, Angevine 6, Joslin 3, Kathol 2.
Girls basketball
Olympic 44, Port Angeles 43
BREMERTON — The Port Angeles girls suffered a heartbreaking one-point loss on the road against first-place Olympic 44-43, as the Trojans hit two free throws with no time left on the clock to pull the game out.
If the Roughriders had won, they would’ve been in first place in the Olympic League 2a Division. The Riders (6-6, 3-2) are now at third, behind Olympic at 5-0 and North Kitsap at 3-1.
With the Roughriders ahead 43-42, the Trojans’ Katie Campana missed a shot at the buzzer. But, a foul was called on the shot and Campana made both of her free throws with literally 0:00 on the play clock.
In another big play by Campana, she hit a 3-pointer with 1:33 left in the game to cut a Riders’ 41-37 lead to 41-40.
There was also a technical foul called in the final moments with confusion over which team the foul was called on, according to coach Michael Poindexter.
In the frustrating loss, Poindexter said that Kyrsten McGuffey, Natalie Steinman and Grace Long played exceptional defense on Olympic’s gaurd trio of Campana, Danielle Monzon and Kiki Mitchell.
“Monzon and Campana simply had superb games for Olympic. One more made free throw [the Riders were 6-for-12] or one more made basket in the third quarter could have been the difference maker for us,” Poindexter said.
Nizhoni Wheeler led the Riders with 20 points, while Lauren Lunt had nine. Campana scored 17 for the Trojans, while Monzon scored 14.
It was the Riders’ fourth loss this year by three or fewer points. They also won a game by three points, as five out of their 12 games have come down to the final seconds.
Port Angeles will try to recover from the tough loss with an important Olympic 2A league at Kingston at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Olympic 44, Port Angeles 43
PA 11 18 2 12 — 43
Olympic 17 11 4 12 — 44
Port Angeles (43) — N. Wheeler 20, Lunt 9, C. Wheeler 7, Steinman 3, Robideau 2, McGuffey 2.
Olympic (44) — Campana 17, Monzon 14, Matheny 4, Grant 4, Mitchell 3, Mitchell 2.
