SEQUIM — Port Angeles withstood all that Sequim could offer, knocking off the Wolves 50-40 on Sequim’s home court in a tense loser-out Class 2A West Central District Tournament boys basketball tournament contest at Rick Kaps Gymnasium on Friday.
The Roughriders (18-5) had to beat Sequim for the third time this season and the second time on the Wolves’ home court. And it wasn’t easy.
“They threw everything they had at us [defensively],” Port Angeles coach Kasey Ulin said. “Triangle-and-2, odd zones, man, but we were gritty. We found a way. We didn’t think it was going to be a pretty game, and it was a tough hand to be dealt to play in Sequim. I thought that was an unfortunate call by the district. But I was really proud of these kids.”
The district playoff game was set to be held at Graham-Kapowsin High School, but school athletic directors agreed to move it back to the North Olympic Peninsula and a coin toss to decide where the game would be held despite Port Angeles having the No. 2 overall district seed to Sequim’s No. 9.
“We talked last night about how would we respond [after falling 54-50 in overtime to Fife at home Thursday night]. And in no way, shape or form did we play a pretty game, but they stuck with it and found a way to win in a really tough atmosphere.”
With Sequim keeping Port Angeles’ leading scorer Kyle Benedict off the scoreboard until the final bucket of the third quarter, the Riders were forced to look elsewhere for a spark.
Junior guard Gary Johnson provided it, knocking down three first-half 3s to match three straight deep treys from Sequim senior guard Nate Despain, and put Port Angeles ahead by three, 24-21 at the halftime break.
“The first half I was feeling it,” Johnson said. “I noticed we weren’t shooting the ball well, so I had to step into a different role and make some big plays tonight.”
Despain was a problem for much of the game for Port Angeles.
“Nate has been fantastic all year long for us,” Sequim coach Greg Glasser said. “He’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached. We wouldn’t have been playing this far without him. Our guys trust him, they believe in him.”
Wolves’ sophomore Erik Christiansen came out firing from long range after halftime, draining the first two baskets of the second half from beyond the arc to put Sequim ahead 27-24.
“It was good to see Erik knock down a couple of shots there,” Glasser said.
But Johnson had an answer from deep, nailing his fourth trey and Benedict answered another Despain 3 with a triple to close out the third quarter with Port Angeles up 33-32.
“Gary was huge for us,” Ulin said. “He’s a great teammate and an extremely hard worker, so to see him step up was great. He made shots, he got us in sets, he defended and when we weren’t really scoring the ball he made a couple of big shots to get us over the hump and give us confidence.”
Gabe Long rarely left the court for the Riders in the second half, his defense on Despain crucial on a night in which only four Wolves scored. Despain finished with 18, but was held to two points in the final frame.
“I thought Gabe Long was fantastic in the second half,” Ulin said. “I told him, ‘You are going to play a big role in tonight’s game’ and he had so many winning basketball plays —offensive rebounds, tips and deflections, layups.
“Playing Sequim, Despain is such a great player you have to make him work for everything and Gabe did a great job of that.”
Counting Benedict’s trey at 1:45 of the third quarter, Port Angeles went on an 11-0 run over 7:03 of game time before Kyler Rollness hit a pair of free throws with 2:42 remaining to pull within 41-34.
“We slowed the ball down, we weren’t driving early in the shot clock and we locked down defensively,” Johnson said of what went right down the stretch.
Free throw shooting also helped the Riders.
Port Angeles was nearly in the double bonus to start the fourth quarter and the Riders were able to get to the free-throw line and convert under pressure, something they couldn’t do late against Fife (1 of 6 from line in OT). Port Angeles hit 13 of 17 free throws in the fourth and didn’t allow a Sequim field goal until Christiansen hit a 3 from the right corner to make it a 43-38 game with 50.7 to play.
“We had a couple of really good looks that we didn’t capitalize on,” Glasser said.
But Benedict came on strong in the fourth, hitting all eight of his free throws, and finished with 11 points. Liam Clark led the Riders with 16 points, six of them coming in the fourth quarter, four from the line.
Sequim finished its season with a 12-10 record.
“A special group of guys,” Glasser said of his team. “Not the biggest, not the most skilled group of basketball players, but we fought hard. We fought every possession and everybody on that team really played a vital role. It’s not always like that, some teams can be divided, but this team came together and that’s why they were successful.
“I really appreciate the efforts of all the seniors this year. They’ve worked hard and been outstanding role modlesl on and off the court.”
Port Angeles 50, Sequim 40
Sequim 10 11 11 8— 40
PA 12 12 9 17— 50
Sequim (40) — N. Despain 18, Christiansen 16, D. Despain 3, Rollness 3, Cowan, Langston, Eaton, Young, Lewis, Oliver.
Port Angeles (50) — Clark 16, Johnson 14, Benedict 11, Schmidt 4, Long 3, Edwards 2, Kathol, Cobb, Jarnigan.
Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim’s Nate Despain, right, is guarded by Port Angeles’ Gabe Long during the Riders’ 50-40 district win over the Wolves at Sequim High School.
