BELLINGHAM — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team nearly kept its perfect division record intact Saturday night but fell in a double overtime heartbreaker to Whatcom 74-70.
Down by five at the half, Peninsula (4-1 in North Division, 7-7 overall) crawled back and finally took the lead late in the fourth quarter.
The Pirates had a two-point lead with under a minute to play.
Two missed free throws with seconds left to play spelled disaster for Peninsula.
The Orcas came down and scored the tying bucket in the final moments of regulation to send the game into overtime. They would eventually win it in the second extra frame.
Ryan Rutherford led the Pirates with 18 points, while Jason Gamblin added 12 and grabbed six boards.
Whatcom 74, Peninsula 70
Peninsula 26 35 4 5 — 70
Whatcom 31 30 4 9 — 74
Individual Scoring
Peninsula (70)
Rutherford 18, Gamblin 12, Manzanza 9, Jackson 6, Musgrow9, Johnson 7, Collins 8, Worley 1.
Whatcom (74)
Welch 20, James 14, Oldham 9, Langston 6, Nicholes 4, Brown 3.