CLALLAM BAY — The Neah Bay boys basketball team might take a little more time to gel this winter.
With so many of them playing football deep into the fall — all but one was on the 1B championship squad — the Red Devils need a little time to shake out the cobwebs on the basketball court.
Consider Neah Bay’s 71-36 nonleague victory at rival Clallam Bay on Tuesday a step in the right direction after it lost its season opener to Forks 50-33 last Saturday.
“There was a difference,” second-year Neah Bay head coach Gerrad Brooks said. “The guys catch on fast and they played hard. We were moving the ball on offense.
“We actually ran a few plays on offense,” added Brooks, chuckling. “That helped out quite a bit.”
Titus Pascua benefitted most from the offensive cohesion, hitting 9 of 11 shots, many on layups, for 19 points. Michael Dulik netted a game high 20 to lead a group of seven Red Devil (1-1 overall) scorers and also had seven rebounds.
Leyton Doherty and Josiah Greene both dished out five assists, and Doherty also had seven rebounds. DeShawn Halttunen added 12 points off the bench.
“Our man-to-man defense looks pretty good, better than I thought it would be with the limited amount of practice we had,” said Brooks, who didn’t get his team in the gym until after the Dec. 2 football championship game.
“They are trying to gear up for the different sport, so their shooting touches and the fluidity isn’t there yet, but we’ll get there.”
Jacob Portnoy led the Bruins with 16 points in the loss. Teammate Kevin Hess had eight.
That wasn’t enough to keep Clallam Bay from going down 36-20 by the end of the first half and 54-26 at the end of the third quarter.
The Bruins (1-4) played at Crescent in another nonleague matchup Wednesday after press time.
Neah Bay next travels to Shoreline Christian on Saturday.
Neah Bay 71, Clallam Bay 36
Neah Bay 23 13 18 17 — 71
Clallam Bay 13 7 6 10 — 36
Individual Scoring
Neah Bay (71)
J. Green 4, McGee 2, Z. Greene 9, Dulik 20, Doherty 5, Pascua 19, DeShawn Halttunen 12.
Clallam Bay (36)
Gregory 2, Welever 3, Portnoy 16, Willis 2, Hess 8, A. Ritter 4.
Forks 44, Rainier 31
FORKS — Braden Decker had a monster game with 20 points and a stellar job on defending Rainier’s top player in SWL-Evergreen Division action Tuesday night.
Decker had to check Dalton Delio, who came in scoring an average of 17 points a game and had 52 percent of Rainier’s points this year.
Delio scored just nine points while Decker was guarding him and 13 for the game.
Meanwhile, Decker dropped in his 20 while also getting three assists and three steals.
“Braden had a great game offensively and defensively,” Forks coach Scott Justus said.
Tyler Penn and Brady Castellano swished in 10 points each for the Spartans as Forks (1-0, 3-1) had three players score in double figures for the first time this year. Penn also had seven steals, five rebounds and four assists.
“Tyler Penn had a great all-around game for us,” Justus said.
Castellano, meanwhile, brought down a team-high six boards.
Jonah Penn, who suffered a concussion in the Chimacum game, played three quarters of the contest and helped spark the Spartans, Justus said.
“Jonah Penn did a good job. We needed his senior leadership on the floor.”
Forks next plays at Rochester on Friday night in league action.
Forks 44, Rainier 31
Rainier 8 9 8 6 — 31
Forks 11 8 10 15 — 44
Individual Scoring
Rainier (31)
Delio 13, Marine 7, Shaw 2, Stang 3, Ducharme 2.
Forks (44)
Decker 20, Castellano 10, T. Penn 10, Leons 4.
Chimacum 60, Cascade Christian 53
CHIMACUM — The Cowboys made a major statement by beating two-time defending state champion Cascade Christian on Tuesday night.
In the process, Chimacum remained perfect on the year at 2-0 in the 1A Nisqually League and 6-0 overall.
“They lost a lot of people from last year’s team, but they’re still a very good team,” Chimacum coach Jim Eldridge said.
“This was a big win for us. We played a solid game.”
Everybody who played for the Cowboys scored, sparked by Quinn Eldridge’s game-high 16 points.
“We showed a lot of balance, which is a good thing for us,” coach Eldridge said.
Kyle Madayag had a season-high nine points while Derek Ajax scored a season-high eight. Rafael Pagasian also scored in double figures with 11 points.
The Cowboys also held 6-foot-9 Sean Spencer to 10 points.
Chimacum outscored Cascade 16-11 in the second quarter and 36-31 in the second half.
The Cowboys next play at Charles Wright.
Chimacum 60, Cas. Christian 53
Cas. Christian 11 11 14 17 — 53
Chimacum 8 16 18 18 — 60
Individual Scoring
Cascade Christian (53)
Archer 13, Saunders 5, Vieselmeyer 5, Kushan 11, Spencer 10, Trevort 9.
Chimacum (60)
Eldridge 16, Cray 3, Pagasian 11, Smith 1, Dukek 6, Madayag 9, Ajax 8, Glessing 4, Weller 2.
Girls Basketball
Cascade Christian 68, Chimacum 22
CHIMACUM — The Cowboys ran into a Nisqually League buzzsaw in Cascade Christian on Tuesday night.
“It was a tough game for us against a very, very good team,” Chimacum coach Brad Burlingame said. “We will do better next time.”
Cascade led 25-4 after one quarter and was off to the races.
Chimacum did stay close in the second quarter, but then Cascade Christian romped 21-2 in the third period to lead 56-15 after three frames.
Ke Ke Snyder scored 11 points for the Cowboys while Krista Hathaway had five rebounds and four steals.
Cas. Christian 68, Chimacum 22
Cas. Christian 25 10 21 12 — 68
Chimacum 4 9 2 7 — 22
Individual Scoring
Cascade Christian (68)
Holton 8, Ashley 3, Creek 14, Nehigh 2, Romey 10, Tastold 10, Reed 12, Spencer 7.
Chimacum (22)
Thacker 6, Johnson 2, Snyder 11, Cossell 3.
Neah Bay 61, Clallam Bay 8
CLALLAM BAY — The Red Devils (2-0) may just be in a league of their own.
After beating Forks and rival Clallam Bay by a combined score of 126-33 in their first two games, the 1B powers are still in search of a challenge.
“Actually, they took it easy on us believe it or not,” Clallam Bay coach Kelly Gregory said. “They could have scored 100 points on us.”
Courtney Wink scored 13 points and Rebecca Thompson 12 in limited action as the Red Devils (2-0) held Clallam Bay scoreless in three out of four quarters.
That kept the Bruins (0-4) winless on the season.
“There’s hope,” Gregory said. “It’s just going to take some time.”
Neah Bay 61, Clallam Bay 8
Neah Bay 17 18 18 8 — 61
Clallam Bay 0 8 0 0 — 8
Individual Scoring
Neah Bay (61)
Greene 3, Hahn 2, Thompson 12, Tyler 7, Murner 2, Winck 13, Ch. Moss 5, Ci. Moss 6, Chartraw 3, Hill 8.
Clallam Bay (8)
Willis 3, Randall 5.
Rainier beats Forks
FORKS — The Spartans (0-1, 1-4) dropped their first SWL-Evergreen Division game of the season Wednesday night.
Details were not reported.
Boys Swimming
Port Angeles 133, Kingston 49
PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders didn’t waste any time looking towards districts as seven individuals and all three relay teams earned district qualifying times in only their second meet of the season Tuesday.
In addition, Tyler Burke was a double winner.
Port Angeles improved to 2-0 in the Olympic League and overall.
Burke was first in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke, earning a district time of 23.84 seconds in the 50 free.
Avery Koehler was first and earned a qualifying time of 1:01.97 in the 100 butterfly while two swimmers will be going to districts in the 500 free.
John Macias was first in the 500 in 5:51.23 and Cole Urnes took second in 6:14.89.
Other individual district swimmers were Koehler in the 100 breaststroke (third in 1:12.60), Connor Reid in 200 free (second in 2:14.85) and Kris Wannquist in 200 individual medley (third in 2:35.74).
Relay teams with district entry times are the 200 medley relay (first in 1:50.90) of Burke, Matt Watkins, Koehler and Macias; the 200 free relay (first in 1:42.24) of Koehler, Wannquist, Watkins and Jay Liang; and the 400 free (first in 3:52.20) of Reid, Liang, Macias and Burke.
The Riders won 10 of the 12 events and outscored the Buccaneers in nine events.
Port Angeles also swept three events, including the 200 free, diving and the 500 free.
Austin Fahrenholtz, the defending 2A state champion, dominated diving with a total score of 237.50.