The boys on the Port Angeles basketball team had their backs against the wall entering their game against 5-0 Olympic on Friday.

Lose, and the boys would have been in a deep 0-3 hole in the Olympic League.

The Roughriders rose up to dominate the first-place Trojans, beating them 75-40, behind their veteran Gus Halberg.

Halberg had several steals to spark the Riders’ suffocating defense and drove the lane time and again, forcing Olympic to foul him and putting several players in foul trouble. Halberg went to the line 17 times and finished the game with 25 points as the Riders got their momentum back after a heartbreaking, buzzer-beating overtime loss to Bainbridge three days earlier.

Halberg and his teammates face North Kitsap on the road today, looking to even their record in the Olympic League and get right back in the thick of the race for the postseason.

Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles.

Swain’s General Store, Port Angeles.