By Michael Carman and Pierre LaBossiere
Peninsula Daily News
STEILACOOM — The Sequim basketball boys got 26 points from Nate Despain and clamped down on defense in a crucial third quarter to beat Steilacoom 60-49.
The Wolves outscored the Sentinels 12-2 in the third quarter to seize control of the game.
“We didn’t look that strong in the first half, then Nate his a couple of threes at the end of the first half that gave us some momentum,” said coach Greg Glasser.
The Wolves turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter “and we turned them over quite a bit,” Glasser said.
“I played all 11 guys. The second unit brought a [defensive] intensity that motivated all of our guys to play hard,” he said.
Sequim also hit 11 out of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter to help seal with win.
Erik Christiansen scored 10 for the Wolves, while Michael Young and Kyler Rollness each scored six.
Sequim (1-1) next plays at Kingston (0-2) Wednesday, opening up Olympic League 2A Division play.
Sequim 60, Steilacoom 49
Sequim 8 21 12 19 — 60
Steil. 11 21 2 15 — 49
Sequim (60) — Despain 26, Christiansen 10, Oliver 7, Rollness 6, Young 6, Cowan 3, Wiker 3.
Steilacoom (49) — Cady 18, Willingham 12, Hines 10, Asaeli 8, Petry 1.
Crescent 32, Oakville 25
JOYCE — The Loggers put the clamps on the Acorns defensively for much of the game, shutting out Oakville in the second quarter, and ultimately coming away with a nonleague win in their season opener.
“We were really tough on defense, really nasty, got up in their space and created problems with some good old-fashioned, hard-nosed defense,” Crescent coach Chris Ferrier said.
“Shutting them down in the second quarter really gave us that cushion we needed when they made a run in the fourth quarter and knocked down some shots.”
Eric Emery had nine points to lead the Loggers, while Brayden Emery added seven and Mason Owens also had seven.
“Mason and Eric played the whole game and handled the ball well for us and really played fantastic defense,” Ferrier said.
Ferrier said the Loggers hit their free throws late, knocking in seven freebies to hold Oakville back.
“Brenton Dalton played tremendous defense on their big-time scorer as an eighth-grader against a senior that was impressive.
“We rotated well, we provided excellent help defense and we got some solid minutes from Landen Buchanan, a freshman in his first game, and Austin [Sage] and Isaac [Elliott] gave us good minutes off the bench.
Crescent (1-0) hosts Mary M. Knight on Wednesday.
Crescent 32, Oakville 25
Oakville 7 0 6 12— 25
Crescent 8 7 4 13— 32
Crescent (32) — Buchanan 4, Dalton 5, Owens 7, E. Emery 9, B. Emery 7, Sage, Elliott,
Neah Bay 67, La Conner 59
LA CONNER — The Neah Bay boys opened their season getting four players in double figure in a road win over La Conner 67-59.
Keith Johnson led the Red Devils with five 3-pointers and 19 points, while Sean Bitegeko and Cameron Moore each scored 15. Jay Brunk added 14 points while shooting 5 for 5 from the free-throw line.
Neah Bay (1-0) will next play at Forks (0-1) at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Neah Bay 67, La Conner 59
Neah Bay 15 16 15 21 — 67
La Conner 17 10 9 23 — 59
Neah Bay (67) — Johnson 19, Bitegeko 15, J. Brunk 14, Moore 15, Horejsi 4.
La Conner (59) — Cram 19, Tripp 12, Liddel 11, Porter 6, Casey 4, Olson 4.
Girls Basketball
La Conner 64, Neah Bay 40
LA CONNER — The Neah Bay girls fell in their season-opener on the road 64-40 against La Conner.
Laila Greene led the Red Devils, shooting 5 for 8 from beyond the arc for 17 points. Ruth Moss scored nine and Patience Swan five.
Neah Bay next plays at Forks (2-0) at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.
La Conner 64, Neah Bay 40
Neah Bay 9 7 11 13 — 40
La Conner 14 15 15 20 — 64
Neah Bay (40) — Greene 17, Moss 9, P. Swan 5, Gagnon 4, Woodruff 4, Aguirre 1.
La Conner (64) — Swanson 15, Benson 12, Herrera 8, Cook 7, Cram 4, Lagerway 2, Hagen 2.
Wrestling
Port Angeles, Forks at Patriot Classic
TACOMA — The Forks boys wrestling team finished second and the Port Angeles boys third at the 16-team Patriot Dome Classic at Washington High School.
Taking first for Port Angeles was Daniel Basden at 126 pounds. Finishing third were Adam Borde at 132, Jackson Larsen at 15, Riley Gale at 170 and Dom Timperio at 195. Seth Mann finished fifth at 160.
Individual Forks results were not reported before press deadline.
In the JV tournament, first place went to the Roughriders’ Jack Harrelson at 126 pounds and Corey Young at 138.
Forks, which placed fourth at the state 1A tournament last year, will next compete at the Granger Ironman Invitational Saturday.
Port Angeles will next wrestling in an Olympic League 2A dual at home against North Mason at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Port Angeles’ Riley Gale wrestles at the Patriot Dome Classic at Washington High School on Saturday.
