PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Roughriders split a pair of games at their holiday tournament, crushing Rochester 61-21, then losing to a good R.A. Long squad 58-51.
Against R.A. Long in Friday’s game, Grayson Peet led the Riders with 18 points, while Noah McGoff and Liam Clark each scored nine.
“That was a physical game and a quality team,” said coach Kasey Ulin.
The Lumberjacks hit eight 3-pointers against Port Angeles and drilled a total of 22 3-pointers in the two-game tournament.
The Riders got down 24-13, but were able to cut the margin to just one point. The Lumberjacks were able to fend off the Riders.
“Little mistakes cost us,” Ulin said.
Against Rochester Thursday, despite the lopsided score, the Riders got off to a slow start, Ulin said.
“We weren’t very focused or disciplined,” in the first half, he said.
However, the Riders outscored Rochester 37-7 in the second half. Port Angeles forced 32 turnovers and scored 34 points off turnovers.
“Our bench was awesome,” Ulin said.
He said Easton Joslin had the best game of his high school career, coming off the bench with eight steals and six points. Kyle Benedict also came off the bench for 16 points, five assists and six steals.
Port Angeles (6-4, 2-1) travels to Sequim Tuesday for a Olympic League 2A Division game at 7 p.m.
Forks 64, Rochester 38
PORT ANGELES — Forks stormed out to a 33-15 halftime lead over Rochester en route to a 64-38 win, earning a split of two games at the Port Angeles Holiday Invitational.
On Thursday, Forks lost to R.A. Long 67-50.
The Spartans got good performances Friday against Rochester from Parker Browning, Marky Adams and Cole Baysinger. Browning led the Spartans with 16, while Baysinger scored 15 points to go with 10 rebounds. Adams added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“We’re still trying to wash some of the rust off from the Christmas break,” said coach Rich Gooding. “It would be nice to get more consistent.”
Forks 64, Rochester 38
Forks 16 17 11 20 — 64
Rochester 4 11 9 14 — 38
Forks (64) — Browning 16, Baysinger 15, Adams 11, Prose 5, Johnson 4, Schumack 4, Flores 4, Tejano 3, Archibald 2.
Rochester (38) — Erickson 11, Lollar 9, Goldrich 8, Schneider 4, Valley 4, Robinson 2.
R.A. Long 67, Forks 50
PORT ANGELES — Against R.A. Long, Gooding said he was surprised by R.A. Long’s outside shooting. The Lumberjacks shot 14-for-26 from beyond the arc, while Forks was only able to hit 2-for-10 from 3-point range.
“They shot a lot better than I thought they would,” Gooding said.
Forks was led by Adams with 19 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, while Browning scored 12.
Forks is 7-2 entering Evergreen 1A league play, which begins at Elma at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
R.A. Long 67, Forks 50
Forks 17 9 15 9— 50
R.A. Long 17 20 21 9— 67
Forks (50) — Adams 19, Browning 12, Flores 5, Schumack 4, Tejano 4, Prose 3, Baysinger 2, Archibald 1.
R.A. Long (67) — Rothwell 19, Maryott 16, Childers 12, Rybhikar 6, Mawae 6, Grimes 3, Clark 2, Plank 2, Wallace 1.
Girls Basketball
Centralia 35, Port Angeles 33
CENTRALIA — The Port Angeles girls got into two close games at the Centralia Holiday Tournament, winning their opener over Kelso 36-33 and losing to Centralia 35-33.
The Centralia game Friday was a seesaw affair that came down to some clutch shots in the fourth quarter. Centralia got up in the defensive battle 25-18, but Port Angeles scored 12 straight points in the fourth quarter behind eight points from Nizhoni Wheeler to take a 30-25 lead.
Centralia hit a pair of 3-pointers to take a 31-30 lead, then pushed the lead to 34-30 with 25 seconds left. The Roughriders’ Lauren Lunt hit a long 3-pointer to make it 34-33. Centralia was able to make a free throw in the final seconds and a desperation Riders’ three-quarter court shot with 1 second left fell short.
”Nizhoni played well for us inside in the fourth quarter, finding gaps in Centralia’s zone that she wasn’t earlier, and we got her the ball better than we had earlier,” said coach Michael Poindexter.
Centralia 35, Port Angeles 33
PA 8 4 4 17— 33
Centralia 3 12 3 17 — 35
PA (33) — N. Wheeler 16, Lunt 6, Brady 3, Long 3, C. Wheeler 2, McGuffey 2, Robideau 1.
Centralia (35) — Corwin 13, Kaut 8, Wilkerson 8, Jensen 3, Patrino 3.
Port Angeles 36, Kelso 33
CENTRALIA — In Thursday’s game, the Riders, led by seven points each from Nizhoni Wheeler and Lunt, won another defensive battle.
“Kelso is a young team and didn’t attack our zone very well in the first half. They moved the ball much better in the second half, and the game was close for most of the second half. We had quite a few scoring opportunities inside but missed several in both the first and third quarters to help keep the game close,” Poindexter said.
Poindexter said Lunt hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch and free-throw shootingand defensive rebounding helped the Riders seal the win.
After the split the Riders are now 5-5 (2-1 in Olympic League 2A Division). Port Angeles next plays at Sequim at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Port Angeles 36, Kelso 33
PA 10 11 6 9— 36
Kelso 4 6 10 13— 33
PA (36) — N. Wheeler 7, Lunt 7, Politika 6, Brady 4, C. Wheeler 4, McGuffey 4, Edwards 4
Kelso (33) — Franzen 11, Gibbs 10, Harman 6, Kleven 2, Dole 2, Connors 2.
Wrestling
Forks at The Rock Invite
VASHON — With three first-place finishes from Kenny Gale, Josue Lucas and Jack Dahlgren, Forks wrestlers finished third out of 13 schools at The Rock Invite Thursday.
Winning the invitational was 3A Everett with 207 points. Sultan finished with 195 points and Forks 182.
Gale won the 182-pound weight division. In his finals match, Gale fell behind Tre Sargent of Sultan 5-0 and narrowly avoided a pin in the first round. However, he was able to win the match with a pin in the second round.
Dahlgren won the 195 division and in a back-and-forth match, he was able to win the finals 10-8. Lucas won the 106 division, with three of the top wrestlers in the 1A division at the tournament.
Garrison Schumack finished second at 152 pounds. He went up against Adrian St. Germain, a returning state champion from Vashon in the finals and was beaten 10-4.
Ariel Morales at 120 pounds, Keith Kullander at 138, Colby Demorest at 152, Gavin Palmer at 160 and Luke Dahlgren at 220 pounds all finished tied for third in their weight classes.
Nate Flores at 285 pounds and Eden Cisneros at 195 each finished fifth.
Forks will next wrestle at the Gut Check Tournament at the Kitsap Pavilion Friday and Saturday.
The Rock Invite
Vashon High School
Everett, first, 207; Sultan, second, 195; Forks, third, 182; Quincy, fourth, 181; Zillah, fourth, 181; Lakeside, sixth, 170; Montesano, seventh, 122; La Center, eighth, 77; Lake Stevens, eighth, 77; Vashon, 10th, 73; Elma, 11th, 65.5; Mount Baker, 12th, 49; Rochester, 13th, 39.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Forks’ Marky Adams, right, and R A Long’s Marcus Maryott, left, fight for a rebound as Jeffery Schumack of Forks, center, looks on in first-quarter play during Thursday’s first round of the Port Angeles Holiday Basketbnall Tournament at Port Angeles High School.
