PORT ANGELES — It wasn’t especially pretty, but the Port Angeles boys basketball team toughed out a gritty, 48-33 defensive win over a physical Orting team in the opening round of the District 3 2A tournament.
Believe it or not, the final score is a bit misleading as Orting scored seven points in the final 90 seconds against the Roughriders’ bench.
The Roughriders allowed zero points to Orting over 6½ minutes of the final quarter. The Cardinals went into the final 90 seconds of the game with just 26 points. In fact, in that second half, the Riders allowed just eight points over 14½ minutes of the second half.
The Riders struggled to score against Orting’s physical play, but they showed they can play tough defense, too. While the Cardinals never went away all game long, they also never had any kind of serious run.
“We watched a lot of film of Orting,” said Port Angeles coach Kevin Ruble. “They do battle. They force you to make shots and they don’t go away.”
Ruble said the team has been working on its offense all year but that changed this week and it showed in the final result.
“We zeroed in on defense this week,” he said.
Brock Hope, 6-foot-10, was in the thick of it all game long as he was hacked nearly every time he got his hands on the ball as the Cardinals threw their big 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-5 posts at him all game long. He finished with four hard-earned points and some tough rebounds.
“It’s been this way since the fourth grade,” he said. “I just have to realize that it’s not going to be called every time. I have great teammates. They help calm me down.”
Port Angeles opened up a lead of 35-20 at one point in the third quarter as Brody Pierce led the way with 16 points. It appeared the Riders were going to cruise to an easy win.
Orting had other ideas, going on an 8-2 run to end the third quarter to get within striking range at 35-26.
That was when Port Angeles’ defense took over. Pierce scored seven points in the fourth, finishing with 23, while the Riders defense held time and again, eventually opening up a 44-26 lead with 1½ minutes left.
The Riders’ John Ruddell, who hit a big three at the end of the first half to give Port Angeles a 27-18 lead into the break, finished with 12 points.
Port Angeles now moves on to the double-elimination phase of the District 3 tournament. The Riders (11-9), a No. 7 seed will play at No. 2 seed Clover Park (17-4) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Win or lose, Port Angeles will play again Thursday, against either Sequim or Bainbridge with the game possibly at Sequim.
In other boys’ playoff games Saturday, Annie Wright beat East Jefferson 78-28 to eliminate the Rivals from the District 3 1A tournament, while Evergreen Lutheran beat Clallam Bay 94-59 to eliminate the Bruins from the 1B Tri-District tournament.
Port Angeles 48, Orting 33
Ort. 8 10 8 7 — 33
PA 14 13 8 13 — 48
Port Angeles (48) — Pierce 23, Ruddell 12, Flores 5, Hope 4, Gedelman 2, Davis 2.
