PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula Pirates couldn’t put the Whatcom Orcas away, so they had to outlast them.
Whatcom’s Ian Tevis missed a good look at a 3-pointer in the final seconds to give Peninsula an 82-79 men’s basketball victory on Saturday night.
Though merely the NWAACC opener for both teams, Pirates coach Lance Von Vogt wasn’t downplaying the win after the game.
“Whatcom won the NWAACC North Division last year, so we know they’re a terrific program,” Von Vogt said.
“We defended our home court, and that’s what you have to do to win this league.”
After trailing for most of the first 30 minutes, Peninsula (10-4 overall) took a 64-63 lead on a 3-pointer by Xavier Bazile with 9:45 left in the game.
Bazile finished with a team-high 26 points, including 4 for 8 from 3-point range.
The Pirates’ lead reached as high as five, but they couldn’t pull away from Whatcom.
Zach Stalin scored 10 straight points for the Orcas to keep them in the game.
He tied Bazile for game-high scoring honors with 26 and also grabbed 14 rebounds, with eight of those coming on the offensive glass.
Whatcom (8-5) struggled to solve Peninsula’s pressure defense at the end of the game.
“Defensively, we were definitely better in the last 10 minutes,” Von Vogt said.
“We played sloppy defense for the first 30 minutes of the game.”
The Orcas continued to hang around, so the Peninsula defense needed some big stops to secure the win.
Moments after getting called for an offensive foul, Djuan Smith stole the ball from Tevis and scored to extend the Pirates lead to 81-77 with 1:40 left.
Tevis quickly responded with a bucket to bring Whatcom to within two points.
Peninsula had a few more chances but was unable to add to the margin.
After Bazile missed a 3-pointer that likely would have put the game out of reach, the Orcas got the ball back with 17 seconds to play.
They didn’t even reach the halfcourt line before Donald Gaddy stole the ball and was fouled on his drive to the hoop.
“Donald is a terrific defender,” Von Vogt said.
Gaddy made one of two free throws to give the Pirates an 82-79 lead with under 4 seconds remaining.
Whatcom managed to inbound the ball and move it down the court quickly to set up Tevis’ miss at the buzzer.
Gaddy finished with five points and two steals.
Smith added 19 points and seven rebounds for Peninsula.
Arnold Anderson scored eight points, pulled in nine rebounds and blocked three shots, Daniel Sims had 10 points and TreShawn King Dunbar dished out six assists for the Pirates.
Peninsula 82, Whatcom 79
Whatcom 43 36— 79
Peninsula 39 43— 82
Individual scoring
Whatcom (79)
Stalin 26, Impero 13, Duncan 11, Kussman 11, Tevis 9, Fongue 5, Tanis 4.
Peninsula (82)
Bazile 26, Smith 19, Sims 10, Anderson 8, Clark 5, Gaddy 5, King Dunbar 3, Panaom 2, Visser 2, Gloyd 2.
Women’s Basketball
Whatcom 66, Peninsula 60
PORT ANGELES — Cambie Edwards scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Orcas to a come-from-behind NWAACC win against the Pirates on Saturday.
The Orcas trailed 29-21 at halftime.
Peninsula’s Taylor Larson led three players in double figures with 17 points while Jasmine Yarde was right behind with 16 and Alison Knowles added 12.
Abigail Jones led the Pirates with a team-high eight rebounds while Jonica Durbin pulled down seven and had three blocks.
Karli Brakes distributed seven assists for the Pirates while Jones had five.
Brakes and Yarde had three steals each.
The Orcas improved to 1-0 in conference and 8-5 overall while the Pirates fell to 0-1, 5-6.
Amanda Tapia and Bree Park added 12 points each for Whatcom and Erika Locker had nine.
Locker also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Whatcom 66, Peninsula 60
Whatcom 21 45— 66
Peninsula 29 31— 60
Individual scoring
Whatcom (66)
Edwards 23, Tapia 12, Park 12, Locker 9, Redelinghuis 8, Gruber 2.
Peninsula (60)
Larson 17, Yarde 16, Knowles 12, Jones 6, Durbin 4, Brakes 3, Brumbaugh 2.
