JOYCE — Jacob Portnoy wasn’t about to let early foul trouble get to him.
The Clallam Bay junior scored 16 of his game-high 26 points to lead the Bruins boys basketball team to a critical 57-52 victory over the Crescent Loggers in its North Olympic League opener Wednesday night.
Despite sitting out most of the second quarter with three fouls, Portnoy had little trouble catching fire in a n 18-11 Bruins third quarter that ultimately decided the game.
“I told him, ‘Don’t worry about those last fouls. Just go out and play the game,’ and he did,” Bruins coach Cal Ritter said.
“He played real good ball.”
As a result, the Bruins (1-0 in league, 8-3 overall) earned their first league win since the 2008-09 season.
“It’s a good emotional lift for us,” Ritter said. “Coming off no league wins last year to start off league with a W, that’s a good boost for us.
“Hopefully we can carry it over to [Friday’s home game with Neah Bay].”
Kyle Hess added 14 points for the Bruins, who overcame a 15-9 Logger first quarter in the win.
Joel Williams led Crescent (0-2, 2-9) with 19 points, and Derek Finley and Kia Story each had nine.
“They are well-coached,” Ritter said of Crescent, “and they play good fundamental basketball. They don’t make a lot of mistakes.”
CLALLAM BAY 57, CRESCENT 52
Clallam Bay 8 16 18 15 — 57
Crescent 15 9 11 17 — 52
Individual Scoring
Clallam Bay (57)
Portnoy 26, Ky. Hess 14, Ritter 5, Teachout 3, James 3, Willis 2.
Crescent (52)
Williams 19, Finley 9, Story 9, Weingard 8, Barnes 7.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
CLALLAM BAY 24, CRESCENT 21
JOYCE — The Loggers (0-2, 2-9) fell to the Bruins (1-0, 8-2) in a close NOL match-up Wednesday.
“We played hard and gave it everything we had,” Crescent coach Nate Mandeville said. “We are doing everything we need to be doing, we just need to keep getting better.”
Sara Moore led Crescent with nine points as the game’s leading scorer as well.
The Loggers next host Neah Bay on Jan. 19 starting at 5:30 p.m.
CLALLAM BAY 24, CRESCENT 21
Clallam Bay 6 6 2 10 — 24
Crescent 4 7 6 4 — 21
Individual Scoring
Clallam Bay (24)
K. Erickson 8, Randall 6, Parker 6, I. Erickson 2, Willis 2.
Crescent (21)
Moore 9, McGowen 4, Ritchie 2, Bellford 2, Youngman 2, Williams 2.
WRESTLING
FORKS FALLS AT HOME
FORKS — The Spartans (1-2) battled against the Elma Eagles at home on Wednesday falling 42-25 in a Southwest Washington League Evergreen Division wrestling match.
“We did pretty well with a good group of younger kids,” Forks coach Bob Wheeler said. “And they made it to where we had a fighting chance.”
Cutter Grahn came out strong with a pin at 55 seconds in the 119-pound weight class.
Tyler Cortani won by an 11-2 decision at 125, freshman Ricky Barragan also won by a 16-8 decision at 135 and Nick Atkins had a pin at 1:06
Sophomore James Salazar had the final victory for the Spartans at 152 weight after being behind for most of the match.
Salazar almost got pinned himself but was able to flip it on his opponent and get the pin in 5:36.
Forks will next travel to the Bainbridge tournament on Saturday starting a 9:30 a.m.
