PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College men’s basketball coach Lance Von Vogt is going to have to do an awful lot for an encore.
After guiding the Pirates to an NWAACC championship in just his first year on campus earlier this week, he’s seemingly got nowhere to go but down.
“Or [we could] just stay static, stay the same and keep doing it over and over again,” a giddy Von Vogt said after his Pirates beat Pierce 80-76 in the NWAACC title game on Tuesday.
“I’m OK with that.”
No doubt, the Pirates faithful would be too.
After all, they had to wait 41 years to see Peninsula College win its second men’s basketball championship.
Current Pirates announcer Bob Darling witnessed both, first in 1970 when he saw future NBA player Bernie Fryer torch Lower Columbia for a tournament-record 57 points in a 132-130 title game win, then as a 61-year-old Tuesday night in Kennewick.
“It’s a whole different type of ball game now,” said Darling, a 20-year-old Grays Harbor College student back in 1970.
“The team in 1970 was a lot of Port Angeles grads. This team here is a bunch of guys from all over the country.
“You’re talking about a team of a bunch of guys who were thrown together and absolutely gelled.”
Indeed, much has changed since the last time the Pirates won an NWAACC title.
For a time, Peninsula didn’t even have a team after the school’s athletic programs were scrapped between 1981 and 1997.
Once the men’s and women’s programs were finally revived in the late 90s, the 3-point line had been introduced and Pirate coaches began looking for more of their talent away from the Peninsula.
The team Von Vogt threw together this winter was the perfect example.
Eleven of 15 players on the roster either came from another state or another country, with just three of them at Peninsula last winter.
Starting guards Sammeon Waller and Mitrell Clark came from Chino, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev., respectively. Starting post DeShaun Freeman was from Los Angeles.
Still, they managed to find a way to click for Von Vogt in critical situations down the stretch.
“Every one of those games [at the NWAACC tournament] came right down to the wire. It was pretty fun to watch,” Darling said.
“If you had a weak heart you didnt want to be there.”
All four of the Pirates’ wins in the tournament came by six points or less.
Their road to the title couldn’t have been much harder either, given that they knocked off the fifth-, fourth-, third- and second-place teams in the tourney.
Clutch shooting and lockdown defense — opponents scored just 65.3 points per gameagainst the Pirates in Kennewick — helped them manage the gauntlet well enough to win the title.
“These are my teammates and also they’re my brothers,” said Clark, who hit 8 of 10 free throws in the final four minutes of Tuesday win to secure the title.
“That’ what helped us win this game [Tuesday].
“This tournament and throuhout this whole process, we had a lot of adversity and we got through it, we pushed through it and we got it done.”
On Tuesday, that adversity came in the form of foul trouble to Peninsula’s two big men, Freeman (6-foot-7) and sophomore Jerry Johnson (6-10).
Forced to play without both for more about eight minutes total, the Pirates managed to outscore Pierce 20-12 to take control of the game.
Six-foot-5 sophomore Jeremiah Johnson held down the post and came up with a big 3-point play near the end of the first half, and Waller and Clark took turns knocking down 3-pointers.
The guard duo combined to hit 9 of 14 shots from long range in that game.
Clark ended up being named the tournament MVP after scoring 28 points.
“Our competitive nature told us not to give up,” said Waller, who had 22 points and a game-saving block in the final five seconds against Pierce.
“We wanted this championship very badly. There wasn’t anybody who was going to take it from us.”
All told, the Pirates won their won four games by a total of 20 points.
Not bad for a group that began the year 1-3 as transfers Clark and Freeman sat out to gain eligibilty.
“There’s toughness that people talk about, and there’ toughness that people exhibit,” said Von Vogt, who a year ago was an assistant coach at Arizona Western College in Yuma.
“This group of guys exhibits toughness.
“I just can’t say enough about their ability to respond to adversity. That’s why a four-point game doesn’t shake them, a one-point game doesn’t shake them. They’re used to it.
“They feel like they deserve to win because they’ve worked as hard as they have all year long.
“And I think that mindset just wills them to win, maybe even sometimes when they shouldn’t.”
So will that mentality carry over to Year Two of the Von Vogt era?
Despite losing some key pieces in Clark and starting guard Thad Vinson, there is promise.
To begin with, Freeman, a North Division all-star and All-NWAACC tournament selection, should return next season as a sophomore.
The same goes for Waller and starting forward Anthony Williams, this year’s glue guy and defensive sparkplug.
Throw in the possbility of five more returning freshmen — not including any red-shirts — and Von Vogt’s idea of staying “static” atop the NWAACC doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
Of course, even Von Vogt knows there are two sides to that sword.
“I’m just hoping that I didn’t set myself up that they expect this every single year,” Von Vog said.
After 41 years of waiting, one will do for right now.