PORT ANGELES — Peter Stewart stared at the stat shaking his head, his tie undone and brow still wet with sweat.
Amid the afterglow of a comeback win over North Division-leading Shoreline, the Peninsula College men’s basketball coach could only ask one question: “Why do we do this?”
At the very least, he’ll get another week to figure it out.
The Pirates clinched Stewart’s sixth NWAACC tournament appearance in his eight years as coach, riding an exquisite half of basketball to a 94-87 victory on Tuesday night.
“I’ve used everything I know to try and get us to play, and what a half,” said Stewart, whose team outscored the Dolphins 60-45 in the second half.
“That was our ninth life tonight. That was it. I’m just happy for the guys, because it ain’t easy being with me.”
The Pirates (10-6 in North, 13-12 overall) went off for 10-0 and 20-2 runs during the second half to come back from a 49-36 deficit with 18:30 left in the game.
A packed Peninsula College gymnasium was in a frenzy as the Pirates poured on blocks, putbacks and two-handed dunks in their final home game of the season.
Peninsula hit 62.5 percent of its shots (20-of-32) during that time, as sophomore Ryan Rutherford scored 16 of his game-high 24 points.
Fellow sophomore Christian Manzanza scored all 14 of his points and grabbed four of his five offensive rebounds in the second half as well.
“Coach was on my back all the time,” Manzanza said.
“I couldn’t play well in the first half, so I was on the bench all of the time. I wanted to stay on the court and have an impact on the game [in the second half].”
The 6-foot-4 Belgian post certainly did that, scoring several of the team’s 29 second-chance points.
And both of his two blocks, including one that immediately followed a Gamblin swat at the rim, got the Pirates’ crowd rocking.
“I told him, ‘We’ve done everything to get you going. This is your last game, your last day. This is it,'” Stewart said. “He came out, he didn’t start [the half] and he responded.”
Jason Gamblin added 16 points and 13 rebounds as one of six Pirates to score in double figures.
That included big games from Trevant Musgrow (13 points), Jordan Collins (11 points, three blocks) and Colton Worley (10 points).
“They worked their butts off,” Stewart said. “For them to come back and do this tonight . . . I’m just really proud of them.”
Peninsula seemed to find life in its full-court press in the second half, forcing seven Shoreline turnovers and several rushed shots.
The Pirates pounded the glass on the other end, coming up with 18 second-chance points during that time.
By the end of their second run of the half, a 20-2 surge, the Pirates were comfortably ahead 73-61 with seven minutes to go.
Shoreline got no closer than six points the rest of the way.
It was the perfect capper for a team that had lost its last two home games by a combined two points.
“Honestly, we’re fortunate to come back and win that one when we let the best team in the conference get out to that much of a lead,” said Rutherford, who was 4-of-7 on 3-pointers.
“That’s the team we should have been playing like the whole time. We just didn’t come out ready in the first half I guess. We just turned the switch when we needed to at least.”
With the win, Peninsula avoided a scenario in which it would have had to play Seattle next Monday in a tie-breaker for the North Division’s fourth and final playoff spot.
Now the Pirates must wait and see how the rest of the schedule plays out to know their first round opponent at the NWAACC tournament in Kennewick.
If Bellevue (10-5, 17-7) somehow manages to lose its home game against Edmonds on Saturday, Peninsula would go into the tourney as the North’s third seed.
A Bellevue win would result in the No. 4 seed for Peninsula and a first-round game against West Division champion Tacoma (21-3).
“There’s going to be 16 teams there, and I think it’s pretty equal,” Stewart said. “Anybody can beat anybody on any given night. We’ll see what happens.”
Said Rutherford, “I think when we play well we can play with anybody. If we just play smart and put people away, I think we can have a real shot to win the tournament.”
Peninsula 94, Shoreline 87
Shoreline 42 45 — 87
Peninsula 34 60 — 94
Individual Scoring
Shoreline (87)
West 7, Miller 22, Wozeniak 14, Payne 4, Jones 10, Vaughan 19, Holifield 6, McCorkle 5.
Peninsula (94)
Manzanza 14, Musgrow 13, Rutherford 24, Jacobson 6, Gamblin 16, Worley 10, Collins 11.
Women Shoreline 59, Peninsula 51
PORT ANGELES — A long season came to a frustratingly familiar end for the Pirates on Tuesday night.
Peninsula dropped its seventh straight game to close out the season, falling to the last-place Dolphins (2-13, 3-20) after digging a 29-22 halftime hole it just couldn’t get out of.
“We were in the game and there were just some key plays,” Peninsula coach Aly Crumb said. “We’d get there and then we’d give something up.
“That just makes it hard to grasp a lead and keep it if you can’t have consecutive stops in a row.”
The loss ended a trying campaign for the Pirates the included two long losing streaks and a couple of midseason additions for a first-year coach with an inexperienced roster.
“We went through a lot this year,” Crumb said. “They were able to compete and really start to put things together toward the end of the season.
“Regardless of if we won or not I’m proud of them and I think we have a lot to look forward to next year.”
Pirates freshmen Brianna DeSantis (17 points, 7 rebounds) and Danika Goodwin (11 points) each went for double figures.
Yet it wasn’t enough to overcome a big night from Shoreline’s one-two punch of Ana Haberman (26 points) and Lynsey Sandum (20 points).
“We played pretty well, but we didn’t make plays,” Crumb said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do in the spring.”
The Pirates (2-14, 3-21) lose one sophomore, Dena Houser, from this year’s team, which also had nine freshmen.
Shoreline 59, Peninsula 51
Shoreline 29 30 — 59
Peninsula 22 29 — 51
Individual Scoring
Shoreline (59)
Haberman 26, Maltos 2, Hering 4, Lo 7, Sandum 20.
Peninsula (51)
Musgrove 7, Jackson 7, Reid 2, Garner 2, Houser 5, DeSantis 17, Goodwin 11.