CHEHALIS — W.F. West put Port Angeles away with a huge third quarter in nonleague boys basketball action.
The Bearcats outscored the Roughriders 31-7 in the third, highlighted by a 20-0 run, as a 10-point game at halftime turned into a 81-51 win on Monday.
Nathan Sherfey finished with 31 points for W.F. West (3-3).
The Riders (4-2 Olympic League, 5-4 overall) have a habit of being undone by one bad quarter in each of its four losses this season.
“We had four bad quarters,” Port Angeles coach Brent Stephens said of Monday’s game.
“It was rough. We never really got off the bus after the three-hour ride.
“We looked like we were dead.”
It appeared the Riders had already experienced, and possibly survived, their one bad quarter after being outscored 24-13 in the opening period and then winning the second quarter 13-12.
But then the third quarter came like a lump of coal in Port Angeles’ stocking.
Hunter Hathaway led the Riders with 14 points, 11 of those coming in the first half before the game got out of hand.
Stephens called Monday’s game Port Angeles’ “worst performance of the year, and it’s not even close.”
He suspected that the Riders’ bad game was a combination of the long drive, playing seven games in 13 days, the Christmas holiday and lack of preparation time for a Monday game due to not practicing on Sundays.
On the bright side, however, the loss wasn’t to an Olympic League foe.
“Nonleagues really only help prepare you for league games,” Stephens said.
“Tanking in a game like this is a whole lot better than tanking in a league game.”
Port Angeles returns to action Saturday night when it hosts Black Hills (4-5) at 6:30 p.m.
The Riders beat the Wolves 62-35 last December to give Stephens his first win as Port Angeles’ coach.
W.F. West 81, Port Angeles 51
Port Angeles 13 13 7 18— 51
W.F. West 24 12 31 14— 81
Individual scoring
Port Angeles (51)
Konopaski 10, Gunderson 3, Ciaciuch 2, Isett 9, Hathaway 14, Burns 4, Schumacher 9.
W.F. West (81)
Gueller 13, Cox 10, Moon 10, Schwarz 11, Sherfley 31, McKay 2, Hawkins 4.