MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Skagit Valley wins on last second shot, but PC makes postseason

Published 1:30 am Thursday, February 26, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The good news for the Peninsula College men’s basketball team — Shoreline beat Everett.

The other good news for the Pirates. They learned Wednesday night they can go toe-to-toe with the toughest teams in the NWAC.

The Pirates lost 58-57 to 26-3 Skagit Valley as the Cardinals’ Malcolm Clark hit a game-winning shot with 1.2 second left in the game. However, they learned shortly after the game was over that Shoreline beat Everett 80-61, sending the Pirates to the NWAC tournament.

If Everett had won that game, Peninsula and Everett would have had to play a tiebreaker Saturday.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for the Pirates, who started the season 1-14. They finished the season 6-8 in the North Region to qualify as the No. 4 seed out of the region. They came within 1.2 seconds of finishing 7-7.

“I’m extremely proud of the way they battled,” said coach A.J. Demond.

Demond said this team was always better than its 1-14 record. Peninsula finished the regular season 7-22 overall.

“The guys always bought in to getting better and to keep winning,” he said.

And the Pirates won down the stretch with drama, beating Whatcom 81-80 in a nailbiter and beating Everett 52-49 on a 3-pointer by Sam Tekeste at the final buzzer.

The last time Skagit Valley and Peninsula played, the Cardinals won 94-54. This is a different Peninsula team, however.

The Pirates were fired up for this game from the get-go, knowing a playoff spot could be on the line. Skagit came in as the second-place team in the North and had already qualified for the postseason.

Peninsula held the lead nearly all game, getting up 12 points early in the second half. Port Angeles’ Gus Halberg hit a big 3-pointer to give the Pirates a 44-33 lead with 14:12 left in the game.

Probably everyone in the gym sensed that the Cardinals would make a run at some point and they did, going on a 19-5 run over eight minutes to take a 52-49 lead with 5:55 left in the game.

The Pirates fought back however, taking a 58-52 lead after Patrick Odingo hit a 3-pointers with 2:54 left in the game. Unfortunately, those were the final points of the night for the Pirates as the game turned into a defensive slugfest down the stretch. The Pirates missed three free throws on the front end of 1-and-1s over the final two minutes and that turned out to be crucial.

Skagit Valley kept feeding the ball inside to their big, athletic 6-foot-8 post Clark all second half. The Pirates swarmed him with defenders and made him work for every point, but Clark came through with 12 points in the second half. The Pirates still held a 58-57 lead in the final seconds and on the Cardinals’ final possession they were able to get the ball inside to Clark, who hit the clutch shot to win the game.

“We’ve been playing well for the past month. Tonight was a continuation of that. We’re going to go and give our best” in the playoffs, Demond said.

Sam Tekeste and Odingo led the Pirates with 15 points each. Halberg hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with eight.

Comes through

Port Angeles High School graduate Parker Nickerson, a former teammate of Halberg, had a crucal 3-point play in the second half for the Cardinals. At one point in the first half, Halberg and Nickerson were in the game together guarding each other.

Skagit Valley 59, Peninsula 58

SVC 29 30 — 59

PC 35 23 — 58

Peninsula (58) — Tekeste 15, Odingo 15, Halberg 8, Heitsch 7, McNeal 5, Hofmann 4, Melnick 2, Driver 2.