BREMERTON — Port Angeles put itself in prime position to earn an Olympic League regular season boys basketball title and the No. 1 seed to the league tournament after thumping Bremerton on the road 82-62 Tuesday night.
“Bremerton is always a tough place to play,” Riders coach Kasey Ulin said. “They are talented and athletic and very scrappy, and they provide a lot of challenges to defend them. To go down there and win by 20 is nice.”
Ulin said Port Angeles showed what it’s capable of in the first and third quarters.
“We were really good at times to start the game and out of halftime,” Ulin said. “Our first and third quarters, we were awesome at sticking with our game plan to make them run halfcourt actions, eliminate one-on-one play and limit them in transition.”
Wyatt Dunning led the way with 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting and eight rebounds.
“John [Vaara] had 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting, and realistically, he could have had 25 points if we had kept him in the game,” Ulin said. “John and Wyatt were phenomenal for us, 15 of 23 combined shooting.”
Ulin said senior point guard Dru Clark also shined with a double-double, 11 points and 10 assists.
And the team received strong bench play from Jeremiah Hall, Adam Watkins, Parker Nickerson and Damon Gundersen.
“We have several big games coming up, so getting everybody some minutes was important,” Ulin said.
Port Angeles (8-1, 9-2) hosts defending state champion North Kitsap (8-1, 11-1), winners of 11 straight games, tonight at 7 p.m.
The Riders will begin Olympic League Tournament play with a home game against a to-be-determined opponent at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Port Angeles 82, Bremerton 62
B 13 15 19 14 — 62
PA 23 12 30 17 — 82
Port Angeles (82): Dunning 23, Nickerson 5, Gundersen 3, Wheeler 2, Hall 8, Cobb, Clark 11, Maestas 10, Burkhardt 2, Soule, Watkins 4, Vaara 14.
Girls basketball
Port Angeles 68, Bremerton 27
PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders saluted their successful senior class with a win over the Knights on Tuesday.
“It was our senior night honoring Millie Long, Jaida Wood, Myra Walker, Camille Stensgard and Ava Brenkman, along with four-year manager Emma Olsen,” Port Angeles coach Michael Poindexter said.
The group has been part of Rider teams that have won four straight Olympic League titles, won back-to-back district championships in 2019 and 2020 and made three straight state tournament appearances.
“Neither team could get into much of a rhythm in the game,” Poindexter said. “Our offensive movement was less effective than it was in our last few games, and we had some trouble effectively defending Bremerton inside and in the high-post area.”
Long led the Riders with 21 points on 10 of 14 shooting and collected a team-high seven steals.
Wood scored 11 for Port Angeles while Brenkman led the Riders with eight rebounds and Stensgard had six points to go along with her six rebounds from the guard position.
Eve Burke added 10 points and six boards.
Bailee Larson dished five assists and added five points.
“Bailee Larson did a nice job of defending their leading scorer, Trinity Malaga, in the second half,” Poindexter said.
“Our effort on offensive rebounds got better in the second half. The increased number of shots we got due to our offensive rebounds [20-10 in Port Angeles’ favor] and our turnover advantage [27-9] helped overcome a so-so shooting night.”
The Riders (10-0) look to cap an undefeated regular-season slate with a win at North Kitsap (7-3, 7-4) tonight.
Port Angeles is the Olympic League regular season champion and will host the No. 8 seed in the first round of the Olympic League Tournament at 3:15 p.m. Saturday.
Port Angeles 68, Bremerton 27
B 6 8 6 7 — 27
PA 20 16 18 14 — 68
Bremerton (27): Malaga 12, Gardner 4, Carter 4, Mejia 4, Stodden 2, Irvine 1.
Port Angeles (68): Long 21, Wood 11, Burke 10, Stensgard 6, Larson 5, Gedelman 4, Petty 4, McGoff 3, Shamp 2, Sprague 2, Brenkman.
Neah Bay 92, Clallam Bay 44
NEAH BAY — The Red Devils overwhelmed a short-handed Bruins squad on Tuesday night.
Courtney Swan led all scorers with 20 points for Neah Bay on 9 of 14 shooting. She added four assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals as the Red Devils improved to 8-0.
Ruth Moss added 12 points, four steals, four assists and four rebounds.
Ocean Aguirre scored nine points and nabbed seven boards for the Red Devils.
Laila Greene hit 3 of 6 3-point shots and finished with 11 for Neah Bay.
Cedar Johnson had 14 points and Patience Swan 13 to lead Clallam Bay.
Neah Bay 92, Clallam Bay 44
CB 12 14 8 10 — 44
NB 29 20 26 17 — 92
Clallam Bay (44): Johnson 14, P. Swan 13, Corpuz 8, A. Swan 5, Jimmicum 4, Tyree, Campbell.
Neah Bay (92): Swan 20, A. Greene 15, Ru. Moss 12, L. Greene 11, Aguirre 9, Ry. Moss 8, Cumming 6, Yallup 6, R. Greene 3, Woodruff 2, Grimmett, Wachendorf.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladaily news.com.
