SEQUIM — Sequim pressed its luck, trailing 54-41 entering the fourth quarter and facing the possibility of being swept by Rainshadow Rumble rival Port Angeles, then turned on its 3/4-court pressure defense, blowing past the Roughriders and claiming a 71-66 Olympic League boys basketball triumph at Rick Kaps Gymnasium on Friday night.
Through a combination of Sequim-induced Port Angeles turnovers and missed field goal and free throw attempts by the Riders, the Wolves trimmed away at Port Angeles’ lead during a 15-1 run from 6:45 of the fourth quarter until 3:21 remained in the game, getting 10 points from Mason Rapelje in that stretch and five more from Solomon Sheppard, which included a gym-rattling alley-oop dunk, courtesy of a pass from teammate Zeke Schmadeke.
Sequim wasn’t finished with the heroics, regaining the lead for good when Hunter Tennell cashed in a corner 3-pointer with 2:55 to play. Sheppard produced an old-fashioned 3-point play and Nolan Bacchus knocked down a baseline jumper at the end of the shot clock to put the Wolves up 68-61 in the final minute.
Rapelje added some free throws to seal the game and add to his career-high point total of 37 as the Wolves capped off an 11-0 run from 2:55 until Port Angeles scored again with 28 seconds left. In the end, the Wolves scored 30 points in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve let teams hang around or we’ve had some slow starts and had to work back into it, but this was one of the best quarters we have played all season,” Wolves coach Craig Brooks said. “The guys were playing with fire, tough defense, and playing free and not thinking about it. In the first quarter we would miss a shot and we would start to think about it instead of moving on. In the fourth quarter it was natural and we shot the ball like I thought we could this season.”
The Riders slowed down after halftime.
“Down the stretch we made a few mistakes,” Port Angeles head coach Kevin Ruble said. “We missed a lot of free throws. You have to make winning plays in crunch time and we didn’t do that. And their guy [Rapelje] got hot. I told him this after the game, but I feel like he’s one of the more underrated players in our league. He does so many good things for them, of course he can score but he has vision and makes smart plays.”
“I think he only missed one or two shots all game,” Wolves coach Craig Brooks said of Rapelje, who shot 70 percent from the floor.
Each team played through foul trouble, but Port Angeles was especially impacted. Big man Brock Hope and point guard Ashton Gedelman were forced to sit for much of the first half and hot shooting Hunter Flores picking up his third right before halftime.
“We haven’t had problems with the press all year,” Ruble said. “We had a hard time getting in a rhythm offensively, we went through some foul trouble in the first half and I thought we were a bit lucky to have the lead [35-29] at halftime having Brock Hope sit for so long and being without our point guard Ashton Gedelman. We also didn’t have our backup post Abe Brenkman [DECA marketing club trip to Orlando, Fla.] who played well against Sequim the first time around.
“So maybe it was a little bit of fatigue for some of our guys having to play some extended minutes and not being able to get into a rhythm due to their defense.”
Tennell also came through for Sequim while guarding Hope inside.
“Hunter Tennell’s defense in the fourth quarter on Brock and his rebounding and tipping were crucial,” Brooks said.
And Bacchus, just a sophomore, hit a big shot and grabbed a haul of rebounds.
“I was really happy to see that executed,” Brooks said. “We needed to run some clock and it was pretty cool for Nolan to hit that baseline jumper.”
Brody Pierce led Port Angeles with 29 points, including a strong slam dunk to open the third quarter. Flores added 19, knocking down five 3-point baskets, but was saddled with four fouls midway through the third quarter.
Port Angeles (9-4, 11-7) hosts defending state champ and RPI No. 3 Bremerton (12-0, 16-2) at home Tuesday.
Sequim (8-4, 8-9) hosts North Kitsap on Tuesday.
Sequim 71, Port Angeles 66
Port Angeles 15 20 19 12 — 66
Sequim 10 19 12 30 — 71
Port Angeles (66) — Pierce 29, Flores 19, Hope 5, Ruddell 4, Benoit 3, Gedelman 2, Point 2, Parker 2.
Sequim (71) — Rapelje 37, Sheppard 19, Schmadeke 6, Bacchus 4, Tennell 4, Klimp 1.
