PORT ANGELES — Basketball teams local and from abroad descended upon Port Angeles for two full days on nonstop hoops at Roughriders gyms in the Port Angeles summer basketball tournament.
The tournament caps off a busy summer for Port Angeles high school hoops. Port Angeles head coach Kasey Ulin has his teams play in up to 40 games during the summer to prepare for the winter prep season.
“We travel over 3,000 miles during the summer and we thought it would be nice to have our own tournament,” Ulin said.
The event was part of an exceptionally busy weekend for youth sports in Port Angeles as the AA American Legion tournament was held at Civic Field and the Wilder Sr. Baseball Club also hosted some games this weekend.
Port Angeles had four total teams in the basketball tournament with varsity, junior varsity and freshman players all participating. Two of the Port Angeles were played in division championship games late Sunday after press deadline. The tournament featured three divisions of small schools, bigger schools and junior varsity teams. Another team doing very well at the tournament was East Jefferson, which went 3-1 over the weekend and was in its divisional championship game.
“This is going really well. We have a variety of different teams. Younger teams, JV, and freshmen,” Ulin said. “We’ve had all kinds of good games — buzzer beaters, overtime games. We’ve had good coaches. Attendance has been good. It’s been a good weekend.”
The doors to the gyms were all left wide open as the unseasonably cool late July weather helped keep the gyms comfortable for fans and players alike. Games went 40 minutes each with a short halftime and running clock to get 40 games in the main and auxiliary gyms within 18 hours.
Teams also included a pair of squads from Sequim High school, one from Forks, three from Cedarcrest, a pair of teams from Stadium High School and a couple from Grandview, Central Kitsap, Entiat and Charles Wright.
