By Michael Carman and Pierre LaBossiere
Peninsula Daily News
BREMERTON — Port Angeles put together some shining play in the first half, weathered a third-quarter dip and still put a 64-42 hurting on the Olympic Trojans in an Olympic League boys basketball game on Friday.
“It was maybe the best basketball we’ve played all year in the first half,” coach Kasey Ulin said.
“Defensively, we were connected and together and turning them over. We held them to a lot of 1-shot and outs and disrupted their rhythm.”
And the Roughriders put up offensive statistics that would make any coach happy.
“We had 44 points in the first half and we were so efficient offensively,” Ulin said. “We had 19 field goals and 15 assists. Our ball movement was very good, spacing was great, flashing and moving off the ball was great.”
Damen Ringgold led the way with 18 points, scoring 12 in the first quarter alone.
Up 44-19 at the break, Olympic stormed back in the third quarter.
“Their backs were against the wall and they came out and played with a lot of intensity,” Ulin said of the Trojans. “We only hit three shots in the third the and lead got down to 12.”
A timeout to emphasize tempo worked wonders and the Riders were able to regain the upper hand.
“We were able to play our tempo, get a couple of nice shots, get the ball inside and stretched the lead back out to 20 points,” Ulin said.
Sophomore John Vaara put an exclamation point on the victory. The 6-foot-8 Vaara had 14 points, none more exciting than his late-game dunk.
“John had a monster putback dunk,” Ulin said.
“Brady Nickerson takes a 3, and John had gotten the defensive rebound so he trailed the play and with one hand palmed it and slammed it. The bench went ballistic, they were so excited for John. He played well for us.”
Ulin also praised Nolan Hughes for his work.
“He brought energy off the bench,” Ulin said.
Port Angeles (8-2, 13-5) hosts Bremerton (8-4, 13-6) on Tuesday night.
Port Angeles 64, Olympic 42
Port Angeles 27 17 6 14— 64
Olympic 13 6 15 8— 42
Port Angeles (64) — Johnson 9, Hughes 4, Cobb 7, Clark 5, Maestas 2, Methner 2, Ringgold 18, Dunning 3, Vaara 14, Kathol.
Port Townsend 79, Chimacum 41
CHIMACUM — Noa Montoya capped a torrid week of play with his third-straight 30-plus point contest, hitting for 32 as the Redhawks flew past the rival Cowboys on Friday.
Montoya also scored 38 in a win against Chimacum on Monday, 33 in a loss to Bremerton on Wednesday.
Friday night Montoya added nine rebounds, seven steals and three assists and also hit three 3-pointers.
Sophomore guard Lonnie Kenney hit for a career-high 29 points for Port Townsend, cashing in seven 3s to go along with seven assists and three steals.
“Lonnie hit four from downtown in the first half and Noa had 21 points at recess,” Port Townsend coach Tom Webster said. “They were playing man and we were running our man sets and getting good looks.”
Aiden Petta added 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Webster said his team shot 50 percent on 3-pointers, connecting for 11 of 22.
The Redhawks also had 23 assists as a team on 30 made baskets.
Port Townsend retained possession of the rivalry’s Widge Black Memorial Traveling trophy for the fourth straight season.
“PT got the Widge Black Trophy for the fourth straight year and that’s a big deal for us,” Webster said.
The Redhawks (3-2, 5-12) host North Mason on Tuesday in a nonleague game.
Chimacum (0-5, 1-16) was led by sophomore Joe Savill’s 15 points. Hunter Cerna added 14.
The Cowboys host Klahowya on Tuesday.
Port Townsend 79, Chimacum 41
Port Townsend 23 17 18 21—
Chimacum 9 3 12 17— 41
Port Townsend (79) — Montoya 32, Kenney 29, Petta 11, Fulton 4, Hammer 2, Zabransky 1.
Chimacum (41) — Savilla 15, Cerna 14, Carstensen 4, Lane 4, Martin 4.
Bremerton 74, Port Townsend 55
PORT TOWNSEND — Noa Montoya scored 33 points on a variety of difficult shots, and also grabbed 11 rebounds, but the Redhawks fell to the 2A Knights.
“The difference in the game was they turned us over more than a bakery and scored in transition,” Webster said.
Bremerton 74, Port Townsend 55
Bremerton 17 17 18 20— 74
Port Townsend 6 10 25 14— 55
Port Townsend (55) — Montoya 31, Petta 12, Kenney 6, Toner 3, Harris 2, Zabransky 1.
Crescent 46, Quilcene 29
JOYCE — The Crescent boys came back from a 23-18 halftime deficit with a 13-0 third quarter to beat Quilcene 46-29.
“Really a tale of two halves,” said Crescent coach Chris Ferrier. “In the first half Quilcene really set the tone with their aggressiveness. We were fouling a lot, we put them in the bonus in the first quarter.”
Ferrier said the Rangers shot 12 free throw in the first quarter alone and that the Loggers were fortunate that they only made five.
“Our offense wasn’t really bad, we just didn’t finish at the rim well in the first half. Defensively we were giving them a few too many easy looks in the first half. Second quarter Mason [Owens] started to bring us back with a couple of big threes and some heady play on the point,” Ferrier said.
Ferrier said the second half was a different story. The Loggers outscored the Rangers 28-6 over the final 16 minutes.
“My guys banded together at halftime in the locker room and decided that enough was enough, that we had played below our ability, and it was time to get it going. Gabe [Ritchie] came out and got seven quick points and made some solid defensive plays. The real improvement was at the defensive end, we stepped it up and the guys really made it difficult for Quilcene,” Ferrier said.
The Loggers were led by Owens with 13, while Brayden Emery scored 10 and Ritchie 9. Quilcene was led by Nathan Kieffer with 14.
Crescent (1-2, 5-7) next plays at 7:15 p.m. Monday at Neah Bay (2-1, 3-10) in a North Olympic 1B League game. This was a game postponed last month due to an earthquake.
Quilcene (1-9, 1-14) hosts Tacoma Baptist (8-2, 13-4) in a SeaTac 1B League game at 7:15 p.m. Monday.
Crescent 46, Quilcene 29
Quil. 11 12 0 6 — 29
Cres. 6 12 13 15 — 46
Quilcene (29) — D. Budnek 2 Newman 3, Reimann 5, Kieffer 14, Alejo 1, Elkins 4, Z. Budnek 2.
Crescent (46) — Owens 13, B. Emery 10, Sage 3, Ferrel 3, E.Emery 6, Bergstrom 2, Ward 0 Ritchie 9 O’Neel 0 Hale 0
