SEQUIM — Late turnovers and defensive lapses nearly caused Sequim to gift an Olympic League boys basketball victory to Olympic at home Friday.
Up as much as 41-24 early in the second half and leading by 13 after three quarters, the Wolves allowed the Trojans to steadily chip away in the final frame.
Olympic had one final possession in which to tie or take the lead with 1.9 seconds remaining, but the Trojans’ inbounds pass was off the mark and tapped out of bounds and Sequim emerged with a 51-49 victory.
“Olympic turned up the intensity, came out and were a little more physical [than us] and we had a tough time with that,” Wolves coach Greg Glasser said. “If our boys want to compete and compete at a high level than they have to be strong with the basketball. If they think Olympic is physical, they are going to see a real physical team [Port Angeles] on Tuesday night.”
Sequim had a difficult time containing Olympic forward Malcom DeWalt in the fourth quarter with DeWalt hitting a 3-pointer and making two layups in the final two minutes to pull the Trojans within two with 48 seconds to go.
“Their physicality, they were more aggressive,” Glasser said of the fourth quarter. They trapped us and anytime we got it inside they swarmed us.
“We attacked really small gaps instead of maybe making that extra pass and making the defense shift. We wanted to try and split it or make the extra dribble and that’s given us some problems.”
To get the lead in the first three quarters, Sequim found offense inside from Stew Duncan, Erik Christiansen and Isaiah Moore.
Christiansen led the way with 19 points on 9 of 16 shooting to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Duncan hit two second-quarter three pointers and ended up hitting 6 of 13 shots for 14 points. Duncan also tied with Moore for the team-high in rebounds with eight.
Moore, just a freshman, added 10 points and three blocked shots.
“Early on we had Stew make some big shots and we were able to get Isaiah in the flow and he was a little more aggressive offensively,” Glasser said.
Isaiah spends a lot of time on his inside game and his post moves and it shows. Not just in this game if he can get guys off the ground that puts him in a position where he’s comfortable to make a move.
“Stew was kind of right place at the right time tonight. He was able to get some easy buckets and that’s good for a shooter like him.”
Dallin Despain was his usual steady presence at the wheel at point guard for Sequim, handing out eight assists, to go along with four rebounds, two steals and a block.
“We talked a lot about Dallin and how he gets us into the offense and how without him we would be running around like a chicken with its head cut off out there,” Glasser said. “He’s so valuable.”
The Wolves (3-2, 8-5) moved two games up on North Mason (1-4, 3-9) and Olympic (1-4, 2-10) for fourth place in the league standings.
Sequim hosts rival Port Angeles on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.
“Yes. All of the above,” Glasser laughed when asked what worried him about Port Angeles.
“They are well-coached, they are big and physical, they have good guard play and they are deep. And they bring a good crowd, too.
“[Roughriders coach] Kasey [Ulin] has developed a great program through the last few years and has a lot of guys turning out that maybe wouldn’t have and what he does is turn those guys into basketball players that help that program out.
“They have multiple guys that are 6-foot-3-plus and 200-plus pounds. And I don’t know if we have one guy that tips the scales at 200.
“We have to be able to move the basketball with them with the pass and knock down some shots. If we want to be able to win, we are going to have to make some shots.”
Sequim 51, Olympic 49
Olympic 10 10 11 18— 49
Sequim 16 17 11 7— 51
Olympic (49) — Holland 14, Dewalt 12, Lindal 7, McInnis 6, Erickson 4, Quinene 4.
Sequim (51) — Christiansen 19, Duncan 14, Moore 10, Allen 4, Eaton 2, Smithson 2, Despain, Smithson, Chen.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Sequim’s Stew Duncan lines up a shot against Olympic. (Conor Dowley/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
