MOUNT VERNON — One silver lining comes out of Port Angeles’ fourth-quarter collapse in Friday’s Class 2A State Regional Round contest against Lynden.
At least the 58-48 defeat at the hands of the Lions in the venerated Mount Vernon High School gym wasn’t a loser-out contest.
No, the No. 7 Roughriders (18-6) burnished their record enough in the regular season and district playoffs to earn a protected top eight seed to the state tournament in Yakima regardless of the finish of Friday’s contest.
And about that finish. Port Angeles controlled the first 16 minutes, with Xander Maestas zooming around causing chaos offensively and defensively with 11 first-half points and Wyatt Dunning connecting from inside and out for 14 halftime points for a 31-22 advantage.
The Riders held as much as a 12-point lead, 39-27 with just over 4 minutes to play in the third and Lynden players and fans were riled after a number of close fall calls went the way of the Riders.
“We were phenomenal for 28 minutes,” coach Kasey Ulin said. “[Lynden] had 44 points with 3 minutes to go, and 20 of those points were in transition and offensive rebounds. They had 14 offensive rebounds and we wanted to hold them to seven, so we have to work on that.”
Lynden regrouped in the final moments of the third quarter and cut the Riders’ lead to 41-34 on a buzzer-beating 3 by Coston Parcher entering the fourth.
Dunning and point guard Quanah Wheeler were in foul trouble down the stretch, limiting their effectiveness. And a rash of turnovers ensured the Riders went nearly four full minutes in the fourth without a point as Lynden continued to eat away at Port Angeles’ lead.
“We did a good job of taking their strengths away, but Lynden is pretty used to those moments. They rise to the occasion well,” Ulin said. “Our lack of depth kind of hurt us, we were physically tired late and that led to some mental mistakes.”
Port Angeles will be without starter Parker Nickerson for the rest of the season to a finger surgery and lost two other contributors along the way to academic issues and a team rules violation.
Dunning was hit with his fourth foul on a dubious call inside and Lions’ leading scorer Jordan Medcalf tied the game up at the free throw line with 4:53 to go.
The Riders took one last lead on a John Vaara bucket, but Lynden’s Kaleo Jandoc, a player Port Angeles had granted space outside against the Riders 2-3 zone all game long, burned them with the go-ahead trey with 2:47 left and the clincher, another triple at 1:33 to go up 50-46.
“Poor execution on the offensive end and costly mistakes at costly times,” Ulin said. “They battled and played their hearts out, in the halfcourt defensively we were maybe the best we’ve been.”
Lynden finished out the game at the line and went 10 of 10 from the charity stripe in the fourth, while Port Angeles only hit one of three attempts.
Now the Port Angeles loss heightens the urgency for a Riders team eyeing a longer stay at the SunDome — a stay the team hoped would begin with a bye into the quarterfinals.
Instead they will face the winner of Saturday’s late contest between No. 10 Franklin Pierce and No. 15 W.F. West in a loser-out state game at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Port Angeles handled Franklin Pierce 68-51 in the district tournament earlier this month and is familiar with W.F. West from summer ball.
“We need to be our best version of us,” Ulin said. “Defensive rebounding, we have to clean that up and take care of the ball.”
Lynden 58, Port Angeles 48
PA 16 15 10 7 — 48
Lyn. 8 14 12 24 — 58
Port Angeles (48) — Maestas 17, Dunning 14, Vaara 11, Wheeler 4, Gundersen 2, Soule, Shamp.
Lynden (58) — Medcalf 17, Adams 13, Parcher 11, Jandoc 10, Canales 5, Baar 2.
