PORT ANGELES — Everything was different 24 hours later.
The Peninsula College men’s basketball team followed up a beautiful 95-86 season-opening win over Big Bend with a clunky 60-55 loss to Highline.
Not much went right for the Pirates against the Thunderbirds on Saturday.
Peninsula couldn’t make shots, couldn’t keep control of the ball, missed key free throws and struggled against Highline’s zone defense.
That last one, the zone defense, flustered the Pirates from the start, so much so that the Thunderbirds built a 19-4 lead a little more than seven minutes into the nonleague Northwest Athletic Conference contest.
“We did not attack their zone inside-out, we played on the outside, we never really penetrated and got to the spots we needed to in their zone, and it caused us some frustration on our part,” Peninsula coach Mitch Freeman said.
“And when you turn the ball over 19 times — and a lot of them weren’t forced turnovers, they were just mistakes on our part — it’s hard to win basketball games.”
Despite all that, the Pirates overcame a couple of double-digit deficits and even took the lead late in the game.
“They were game-planned well. We knew what they were going to do, and they did it to perfection in the first half, and we kind of got behind the eight ball,” sophomore guard Ryley Callaghan said.
“And then we fought back. That’s why I’m proud of us, we fought back, we showed a little resilience in the end.
“We’re a resilient team. We’ve got some tough guys.”
Peninsula got back into the game the first time by holding Highline scoreless for six minutes in the first half. The Pirates’ shots still weren’t falling, though, so they were only able to whittle the 12-point deficit down to four points during the Thunderbirds’ drought.
At intermission, Highline’s lead was a manageable 31-24.
A day after making 74 percent of their first-half shots, Peninsula made only 37 percent in Saturday’s first half.
“We weren’t shooting very well,” Callaghan said.
“It’s hard to go from such a high yesterday to such a low. I mean, in the first half, we shot probably in the 30 percentile. Yesterday [against Big Bend], we shot in the 70 percentile in the first half.
“So it was like a big difference.”
Peninsula’s shooting woes continued in the second half. The Thunderbirds weren’t faring much better — in fact, the Pirates out-shot Highline in both halves — but they made enough shots rebuild their lead to 14 points at 52-38 with 7:25 to play.
That’s when the Pirates finally put something together. Their offense finally complemented the defense.
Deonte Dixon, who led Peninsula with 16 points, scored a bucket for two points. Callaghan noticed the Thunderbirds finally gave him some space, so he launched a long 3-pointer that hit the net and nothing else.
Malik Mayeux made a steal at halfcourt and was fouled on his way to the hoop. He made both free throws, and with 5:16 left Peninsula trailed by only seven points, 52-45.
The Pirates then forced a shot-clock violation, one of three committed by Highline during the final five minutes.
“It was the defense,” Callaghan said was the reason behind Peninsula’s second-half comeback.
“We went into our little press-12, and then we went back to man, and we kind of just played how we should have been playing, you know, with no fear.
“I think we kind of tensed up a little bit in the beginning . . . and we kind of let them get into us, and they smelled blood in the water.
“Once we took it to them, it was kind of a different story.”
Callaghan then made a pair of free throws, and freshman Darrion Daniels added two more to cut Highline’s lead to 52-49.
On Daniels’ second foul shot, Callaghan, who is 6-foot-1, got tangled up with Highline’s 6-8 center Cass Matheis while going for the potential rebound, and both fell down.
Matheis was whistled for a foul, his fifth, which fouled him out, and then was given a technical foul for angrily slapping the floor.
That put Callagahn, who finished fifth in the NWAC last year by making 87 percent of his foul shots, at the line for four three throws with Peninsula trailing 52-49 with 3:52 remaining.
Callaghan made the first free throw, but then missed the second and the third. He recovered and made the fourth to make it 52-51 Highline.
“We did some uncharacteristic things, like letting them get offensive rebounds and I missed key free throws,” Callaghan said.
After another shot-clock violation by the Thunderbirds, Dixon’s layup capped a 15-0 roll and put the Pirates in the lead 53-52 with 2:45 to play.
Jamie Orme ended the Peninsula’s run with an and-1 that gave Highline a 55-53 lead.
Dimitri Amos drove the lane for a bucket to tie the game for Peninsula, but the Thunderbirds retook the lead and never relinquished it.
The Pirates had a few more chances, but they couldn’t score and Daniels turned the ball over twice.
“Darrion, he’s kind of taking it hard right now, but everybody’s got to know it’s not one person’s fault. It’s a team [effort],” Callaghan said.
Freeman said Highline deserves some of the credit for the late-game offensive miscues.
“[We were] not playing well, but still fought and gave ourselves an opportunity, and with 28 seconds left we had the ball and a chance to tie the game, and we just didn’t take care of the basketball at the end there.
“Part of that is they came out and they switched to a man-to-man, and we had a specific thing in mind, and then we tried to change it at the last minute and so it caused a little bit of confusion.”
Freeman said he is “tremendously proud” that the Pirates, despite struggling offensively for pretty much the entire game, didn’t fold.
“They stuck with it. I told them I was proud of them, but, you know, losing hurts. Losing hurts more than winning feels good,” Freeman said.
“And so they’re going to remember that, and hopefully when we come back to practice on Tuesday, because we’re giving them Monday off, we come with a little chip on our shoulder
“And we’ve got a big weekend ahead of us for Skagit, so we’ll have to get prepared for that tournament.”
The Pirates (1-1) open the three-day Skagit Valley Turkey Tournament on Friday against Northwest Indian College.
Peninsula will then play either Tacoma or matchup with Big Bend again in the second round Saturday. If they win one of their first two games, the Pirates will have a third game Sunday.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
