PORT ANGELES — When the final buzzer buzzed, Grayson Peet felt goose bumps and Lambros Rogers felt relief.
The Port Angeles boys basketball team ended an eight-game losing streak to Sequim with a 37-31 win at Port Angeles High School on Friday night.
It was the Roughriders’ first victory over their rivals since Feb. 8, 2011, a span of nearly five years, or 59 months to the day.
“We did it. We finally did it,” Rogers said.
Rogers, a senior, has been on the Port Angeles varsity team for most of his high school career, so he was part of most of those eight losses to the Wolves.
Sequim coach Greg Glasser said that rivalry experience, though not pleasant, paid huge dividends for the Riders on Friday.
“That’s a good team that we played tonight, and they had a lot of kids that came back from last year that have played in this atmosphere, so that counts for something,” Glasser said.
That experience came in handy when Port Angeles went scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game while Sequim built a 10-0 lead.
Rather than collapse, the Riders stuck to their game plan. They finally got off the schneid when McGoff hit a 3-pointer with 50 seconds to play in the opening quarter.
“We knew we were getting good shots, so we just kept running through our offense,” Peet said.
“We have a good group that doesn’t get down on themselves when we start slow, so once Noah hit that shot to get going, everything went up from there.”
Janson Pederson added two more points and Port Angeles trailed only 10-5 after one quarter.
Sequim’s Nick Faunce scored all eight of the Wolves’ points in the second quarter, and he timed his three buckets, including two 3s, well enough to keep the Riders at bay for most of the period.
That is, until Peet launched a shot from well beyond the 3-point line that swished through the net right before the halftime buzzer to give Port Angeles its first lead of the game, 19-18.
“That’s when, like, the rivalry comes in, and you’re just not thinking about the shot or anything,” Peet said.
“You throw it up there with confidence, and it’s exciting and the crowd gets into it.”
Peet finished with six points, five assists and three steals. His other points came on a 3-pointer that started the Riders’ 7-0 run to end the first half.
“It’s huge. That’s a big momentum changer going into halftime,” Riders coach Kasey Ulin said of Peet’s go-ahead 3-pointer.
“You know, he’s played big in big games this year. In spots where we need baskets, he’s one that he does a good job answering the bell.”
Rogers led Port Angeles with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and McGoff added 12 points.
Both came up big in the second quarter, which the Riders opened with another scoreless stretch, this one lasting nearly five minutes.
Sequim didn’t fare much better, but did score the first four points of the quarter to take a 22-19 lead.
McGoff again ended the drought by stealing the ball and turning it into a layup. Rogers did likewise about 30 seconds later to reclaim the lead for Port Angeles.
Sequim tied the score at 24-24 on a bucket by Keeshawn Whitney, but the Riders never relinquished the lead again.
The Wolves did manage to stay within striking distance for the rest of the game, but couldn’t take advantage while Port Angeles was missing 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch — Sequim only scored one point in the final 2:45 of the game.
“Our inexperience kind of came out in the end of the game there. But we had stretches of turnovers, too, that hurt us,” Glasser said.
“But, you know, I’m really proud of our effort.”
Faunce led Sequim with nine points and Jack Shea had eight. The Wolves’ top two scorers, Jackson Oliver, who was hampered by early foul trouble, and Payton Glasser, each finished with five points.
As a team, Sequim was held 14 points below its season scoring average, and turned the ball over 20 times.
“We set a goal in the locker room: we hold them under 40 points and we win the game,” Rogers said. “Thirty-one points, and we got ’er done.”
Friday was the third close Olympic League 2A loss for the Wolves (1-4, 4-7). They host league-leading North Kitsap (4-0, 10-2) on Monday.
Port Angeles (3-1, 7-5) can take over sole possession of second place by going on the road and beating Bremerton (2-1, 4-5) on Monday.
“So there’s not time to sit happy, like we’ve really done something special, because we’ve got a big game Monday,” Ulin said.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
