By Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
SEQUIM — Knocking off No. 3 North Kitsap would have been a tall order for Sequim even with starting point guard Dallin Despain.
Despain went through pregame warmups with a brace on his right knee and a pair of yellow and purple Kobe Bryant Nikes on his feet, but couldn’t go after being injured against Bremerton last week.
Without their floor general, the Wolves hung around with the highly-touted Vikings for much of the first half before a wave of turnovers allowed North Kitsap to take off for an 83-42 boys basketball victory Friday.
The loss bumped Sequim (6-4, 11-7) into fourth place in the Olympic League standings, a half game back of Bremerton (7-4, 12-6) and two games up on Olympic (4-6, 6-12).
The Wolves are yet to clinch a district playoff berth, but can do so at Olympic on Tuesday.
Sequim stayed in striking distance of the Vikings early on Friday, buoyed perhaps by a large senior night crowd.
Freshman Isaiah Moore scored all eight of his points in the first quarter and senior starter Stew Duncan drained three second-quarter 3-point baskets as Sequim trailed 36-27 with two minutes to go until halftime.
But North Kitsap is No. 3 in the state’s RPI rankings for a reason. The Vikings are talented and deep and stopping one player only means that another two or three (or more) can step up to hurt you.
And they can score in bunches. North Kitsap closed out the first half on a 6-0 run and continued the scoring streak after the break, dropping in 19 straight points over a combined six minutes of the second and third periods.
The Wolves finally got on the board in the third on a 3-point basket by Erik Christiansen with 3:56 to go in the quarter.
Jonas La Tour did the most damage for North Kitsap, leading all scorers with 21 points. Mostly known for his 3-point touch, La Tour showed plenty of athletic ability at 6-foot-4, with emphatic one-handed slam dunks in each half while also nearly pulling off an alley-oop slam late in the contest.
Shaa Humphrey had 12 of his 17 points in the first half, and Logan Chmielewski (12) and likely Olympic League MVP Kobe McMillian (10) also reached double digits for the Vikings.
North Kitsap 83, Sequim 42
North Kitsap 22 20 23 18— 83
Sequim 14 13 13 2— 42
North Kitsap (83) — La Tour 21, Humphrey 17, Chmielewski 12, McMillian 10, J. Olmsted 6, A. Olmsted 6, Bower 5, Miller 4, Williams 2.
Sequim (42) — Christiansen 12, Duncan 11, Moore 8, Young 6, Eaton 5, Allen, Glasser, Ballantyne, Smithson, Mingoy.
