PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles ended the first half of Olympic League boys basketball play with a 57-52 loss to Kingston at home.
It was the third time in a week that the Roughriders lost by seven points or less.
The win was the Buccaneers’ first in league play this season (1-5, 5-8), and moves them into a tie with Port Angeles (1-5, 4-10) for last place in Olympic League 2A.
The seven-team league has five berths in the district tournament.
“This was a big game; you know, it would have really helped us,” Port Angeles coach Kasey Ulin said following Wednesday’s game.
“Now, just our margin for error is a lot smaller.”
The Riders and Buccaneers are far from out of the district race. They are currently one game behind fifth-place North Mason and two games behind Sequim and Bremerton, who are tied for third place.
Wednesday’s contest went down the finals seconds and featured six lead changes in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 53-52 with less than 30 seconds to play, the Riders were looking to make it seven lead changes when they rebounded a missed free throw by Kingston’s Miles Sustad and set up a play for senior Hunter Hathaway.
Hathaway lost his dribble near the 3-point line but was able to dive on the ball to retain possession.
After the scramble, Lambros Rogers called timeout. Port Angeles, however, was out of timeouts, and was assessed a technical foul that gave the Buccaneers two foul shots and the ball.
“He’s making a hustle play; it’s just an unfortunate situation,” Ulin said.
“But like we tell the kids, one play doesn’t determine the game. We had several chances in the second half.
“The timeout doesn’t lose the ballgame because we should have never been in that situation.”
Sustad hit both free throws to make it 55-52.
After the ensuing inbounds pass, Port Angeles’ Noah McGoff knocked the ball down the court but was unable to track it down, and the Riders were forced to again foul Sustad, who again made both shots to increase the lead to 57-52 with 10 seconds remaining.
“The effort, the execution — we wanted to deny, get a steal,” Ulin said.
“Noah got a deflection, he hustled his butt off, it just . . . sometimes it doesn’t go your way. Basketball, like other sports, is a game of inches.”
Sustad lead all scorers with 21 points.
Hathaway had 20 points for Port Angeles and pulled down 12 rebounds.
“He’s been great all season. He’s an all-league kid. I mean, he’s 16 [points] and 11 [rebounds] every single game,” Ulin said.
“His effort is unbelievable, his motor goes, he out-rebounds people, he hits tough shots.
“He’s a dandy. Other people get a lot of credit over on the other side of the pond, but, man, I’ll take him any time over any kid because I want him on my team any time I’m going to battle.”
Hathaway had two of Port Angeles’ eight 3-pointers in the game and was one of six players who made a trey in what was a solid all-around shooting effort for the Riders.
In fact, they opened the game with three consecutive 3s — one each by Janson Pederson, Grayson Peet and Hathaway.
A layup by Pederson off a feed by Peet gave Port Angeles a quick 11-0 lead 2 minutes and 5 seconds into the game.
But the Buccaneers slowly fought their way back and a buzzer-beating 3 by Liam Young put them within three points at 15-12 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Riders still led by three, 28-25, at halftime.
As they did at the start of the game, they opened the second half on a tear, scoring the first five points on a layup by Hathaway and a 3-pointer by Nathan Angevine to open up a 33-25 lead.
But Kingston responded with an 11-0 run over the next 4-plus minutes.
“All of a sudden, it’s a ballgame again,” Ulin said.
“We always say: You let any team believe and let them have confidence, you have a ballgame.”
During Kingston’s run, Port Angeles’ defense was off-balance and its normally stout rebounding floundered and allowed the Buccaneers a handful of second-chance opportunities.
The Riders recovered and neither team led by more than four points the remainder of the game.
Pederson finished with seven points for Port Angeles, Peet had six, and Luke Angevine and McGoff contributed five points apiece.
Rogers finished with four points and eight rebounds. McGoff, Nathan Angevine and Bryant Frith each pulled down four boards.
“Rebounding is definitely a strength of ours,” Ulin said.
The Riders have now lost five straight games. Tonight they have the tough task of facing league-leading Olympic (6-0, 10-3) on the road.
“We start the second half and there’s no feeling sorry for ourselves, there’s not a pity party,” Ulin said.
“Winning covers up a lot of negative things; losing, everything is magnified.
“And the first thing you’re going to see is your character. How do you respond: Is it a blame game? Do you take responsibility?
“The point is we stay as a team, keep believing in what we’re doing, because now we start the second half of the season and our margin for error is just smaller.
“The sense of urgency has to be there.”
Kingston 57, Port Angeles 52
Kingston 12 13 16 16— 57
Port Angeles 15 13 10 14— 52
Individual scoring
Kingston (57)
Boles 9, Barrett 2, Sustad 21, Shaw 3, Gregory 5, C. Veilleux 6, Young 7, G. Veilleux 4.
Port Angeles (52)
Peet 6, McGoff 5, Hathaway 20, L. Angevine 5, Rogers 4, Pederson 7, Boesenberg 2, N. Angevine 3, Andrus, Frith.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
