PORT ANGELES — Chris Reis beat the buzzer — and the Edmonds Tritons — with a lefthanded scoop layup as the Peninsula College men’s basketball team won a thriller 73-72.
Saturday’s win moved the Pirates (6-2, 13-9) into a first-place tie for the Northwest Athletic Conference North Region lead with Edmonds (6-2, 17-4).
Trailing 72-71 with no timeouts and 6.5 seconds remaining, the Tritons’ Dylan Carter missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at the free-throw line. The ball was rebounded by Peninsula’s Dimitri Amos and quickly moved up the floor to Reis.
“Meech [Amos] found me, and I knew we were down and didn’t have time to pass it, so I went for it,” Reis said.
“I was just looking at the basket. I didn’t know how much time was left I was just trying to get to the basket and put up a shot.”
Reis cut across the court, and laid the ball up and off the glass.
He collapsed to the court and was promptly dog-piled by his teammates.
“I’m super proud of Chris,” Pirates coach Mitch Freeman said.
“He’s a kid who’s really paid the price for his success.
“It was just a scramble play, something we work on at practice all the time.”
The last-second shot capped a hard-scrabble contest, neither team willing to concede ground on any pass, shot or drive.
“I’m really just so proud of our guys for competing as hard as they did,” Mitch Freeman said.
“There was no such thing as a lead in this game. It was back and forth, and Edmonds is a tough, physical basketball team.
“There’s a reason Edmonds is as successful as they are.
“They’ve challenged us in everything we do for the last three years.”
Peninsula opened the game on a 10-0 run, capitalizing on missed shots by the Tritons, and led 23-14 with nine minutes to go until halftime.
Edmonds worked its way back into it via a steady dose of Zach Walton.
Walton scored 12 of his game-high 25 points in the opening half.
“Zach Walton is really talented. He’s a kid a lot of the NWAC schools were drooling over and trying to get,” Freeman said.
The Pirates took a 37-31 lead into the break after Darrion Daniels connected on a 3 as time expired.
Peninsula looked inside for much of the game, running its high post offense to get shots inside for Malik Mayeux, Dimitri Amos and Jeremiah Hobbs.
Mayeux led the Pirates with 16 points and added eight rebounds.
Amos hit for a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Hobbs scored four and added six boards.
“Their bigs were going to allow our bigs to get catches and make plays,” Freeman said.
“And for the most part we were able to make those plays in the post.
“Malik, Dimitri and Jeremiah all played well.”
The game took a disturbing turn with the score tied at 43-all and 13:20 to play.
During a scrap for possession, Peninsula’s leading scorer was sent to the deck and came up with a cut just above his right eye.
Dixon was bleeding profusely as he left the court, and the sophomore missed the remainder of the contest.
“We’re like a family,” Reis said.
“One of our brothers went down, so we tried to step up, fill his role and get the win for him.”
The lead changed hands four times in the next 12 minutes.
The Pirates built a four-point lead on three separate occasions, including at 67-63 after a pair of Ryley Callaghan free throws with 2:48 to play, only to see Edmonds fight its way back and take a 72-69 lead with 16.6 seconds left.
Daniels raced downcourt and scored on a layup for Peninsula with 7.8 seconds left to cut the Tritons’ lead to 72-71.
Carter missed the freebie with 6.5 seconds left, and Amos found Reis who hit the game-winning shot.
“I really like how our guys stayed tough when it got tough,” Freeman said.
“Edmonds prepares for you so well. They scout you so well. They know everything about us, and we know everything about them.”
Reis figured the game would come down to a final-shot scenario. He’s seen enough of Edmonds, including an NWAC semifinal loss to the Tritons last March, to know all about them.
“They fight, they are scrappy,” Reis said of Edmonds.
“It was mentally difficult because we knew it was going to come down to one possession.
“Every game with them comes down to the wire.
“We’ve played them six times in the past two years.”
And maybe a deciding seventh game is yet to come in the NWAC tournament.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
