PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles’ frontcourt production helped the Roughriders compensate for Bremerton’s hot outside shooting as the Roughriders beat the Knights 70-58 Tuesday.
The victory sets up a crucial Olympic 2A League contest tonight when the Class 2A WIAA RPI No. 3 North Kitsap Vikings (13-0, 17-2) visit the No. 7 Roughriders (12-1, 15-4) tonight at 7 p.m. Port Angeles can win a share of the league title if the Riders can beat the Vikings, who have been ranked No. 1 in the state in the Associated Press’ 2A poll all season.
The Vikings edged Port Angeles in Poulsbo 76-74 on Feb. 3.
Wyatt Dunning poured in 30 points and grabbed seven rebounds and John Vaara dominated the glass with 26 points and 18 rebounds as Port Angeles scored 54 of its 70 points in the paint in Tuesday’s game.
“If somebody would have told me that we would have allowed 12 3-pointers to Bremerton and won, I would have been surprised,” Riders coach Kasey Ulin said. “I thought we stayed composed when they made a lot of tough, contested 3s. They are such a skilled athletic team and we wanted to keep them outside of the paint and off the boards.”
Port Angeles guards Quanah Wheeler and Xander Maestas consistently found Dunning and Vaara for inside buckets. Maestas had a season-high eight assists and Wheeler added seven.
“We really did a good job of playing inside-out offensively through John and Wyatt and getting good looks through them,” Ulin said.
Port Angeles 70, Bremerton 58
Brem. 20 11 22 5 — 58
PA 20 18 19 13 — 70
Port Angeles (70) — Dunning 30, Vaara 26, Wheeler 5, Nickerson 5, Maestas 4.
Bremerton (58) — Moore 28, Tucker 11, Wilson 9, Taylor 9, Christian 5, Frost 1.
Olympic 55, Sequim 42
BREMERTON — The Wolves struggled down the stretch and missed out on the opportunity to clinch a postseason berth with a loss to the Trojans on the road Tuesday.
Ashton Trottman scored 18 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter as Olympic broke open a 30-30 tie after three quarters.
Keenan Green led the Wolves with 11 points.
Sequim (4-10, 6-13) must hope Bremerton beats Kingston late Wednesday to keep its season alive.
A Bremerton win would set up a rematch between Olympic and Sequim in a loser-out tiebreaker on Friday at Kingston. The winner of Friday’s game would then face Kingston [holder of the highest RPI between Sequim, Olympic and Kingston] on Saturday for the Olympic League’s fourth and final berth to the Class 2A District 2/3 tournament.
Olympic 55, Sequim 42
Seq. 7 11 12 12 — 42
Oly. 10 10 10 25 — 55
Sequim (41) — Green 11, Glasser 7, Smithson 6, Mooney 6, Moore 3, Anderson 3, Mingoy, Brown, Wiker, Grider.
Crescent 54, Chief Kitsap 42
JOYCE — The Crescent boys basketball team got off to a fast start against Chief Kitsap, then held on to win 54-42 to clinch a playoff spot at the 1B Tri-District tournament.
Both the Crescent boys and girls (11-5 overall) are moving on to the Tri-District tournament for the first time in 20 years, according to girls coach Mike Hazelett. The boys qualified for the first time in three years.
The Crescent boys got out to a 21-8 lead after the first quarter, but Chief Kitsap kept chipping away at the lead.
“I think there were some jitters that jumped up at the end of the game,” said boys coach Chris Ferrier. “I feel like the guys got a little tentative when the goals they set were in sight, but there was just enough defense and rebounding to get us to the finish line.”
The Loggers (4-2, 9-5) were led by Brayden Emery with 18, while Conner Ferro-May scored 13. Hayden Ferrel had nine and Conner Bauers eight.
“I can’t say enough about this team,” Ferrier said. “This squad has really bought into a defensive mindset that hasn’t always been present at Crescent. We have guys who are flat out nasty on the defensive end of the floor. And we have three great seniors — Hayden Ferrel Austin Sage and Brayden — who sometimes drag guys along with them.”
The Tri-District tournament begins Saturday for both Loggers teams.
Crescent 54, Chief Kitsap 42
CK 8 20 7 7 — 42
Cres. 21 17 5 11 — 54
Crescent (54) — T. Emery, Bauers 8, Sprague 3, Sage 3, Ferrel 9, Bourm, B.Emery 18, Ferr0-May 13
