PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles boys basketball team has shown it can score. On Saturday night, the Roughriders showed their defensive teeth in a big way.
A day after losing the season opener to North Mason 73-70, the Riders poured in 80 points against Highline, but this time they allowed the Pirates to score just 46 points in a defensive clinic.
The Riders were led by Brock Hope with 19 points. Gus Halberg was the engine behind the defense with multiple steals. He finished with 15 points. Alex Angevine had 10.
“I think we had first-game jitters,” said head coach Kasey Ulin. “We were much better tonight defensively. We were disciplined and kept the ball in front of us. It was great to see them respond from last night. I’m so proud of the way they responded.”
The game was actually close early as the Riders held just a 15-11 lead after one quarter. Halberg started a big run by scoring six straight points, hitting three straight free throws after being fouled shooting from beyond the arc, then hitting a 3-pointer seconds later, as Port Angeles blew the game open with a 25-7 second quarter.
Ulin also liked the team’s offensive balance with seven players scoring at least five points.
Port Angeles (0-1, 1-1) returns to league action playing at Bainbridge (0-1, 1-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Also on Friday night was a bit of a shocking Olympic League score as perennial league powerhouse North Kitsap was crushed by Bremerton 91-22. North Kitsap was 14-0 in league and 23-5 overall last season. Bremerton is 2-0 so far on the season.
In another Saturday Olympic League game, the Sequim boys beat Clover Park 74-42.
Concrete 41, Crescent 39
CONCRETE — The Crescent boys basketball team split a pair of road games this weekend, losing by one bucket to Concrete 41-39 in overtime on Saturday.
“We couldn’t buy a bucket. First half we played pretty good defensively unfortunately we weren’t able to knock down very many shots while we played tremendous defense,” said coach Chris Ferrier.
The Loggers rallied from four points down in the final minute to tie the game on free throws, sending it into overtime.
“It was a good test for us on a second day of a back-to-back we played the night before at Darrington [a Crescent victory] and playing in the afternoon at Concrete after an overnight stay on that side of the water,” Ferrier said. “We just weren’t able to string together enough baskets. We are playing in some tight games and it will help us when we get to league season.”
The Loggers shot 21 percent from the floor.
“[We shot] 66 percent from the foul line. The floor shooting was too much to overcome,” Ferrier said.
Crescent was led by Josh Noel with nine points, while Mikah Love had eight, Henry Bourm seven and Levi Bourm and Dom Sprague six each.
The Loggers (2-2) next host Crosspoint at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.
