SALEM, Ore. — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team ran away from a pesky Columbia Basin squad in the second half to take home a 96-84 victory in the championship of the NWAACC Crossover Tournament on Sunday night.
The defending NWAACC champion Pirates (7-1) showed once again any team that wants to win the NWAACC championship will likely have to go through them.
Tournament MVP J.T. Terrell paced the way with 24 points and all-tournament team selection Tyler Funk added 20 points, connecting on 5 of 7 3-pointers.
Columbia Basin came out of the gates on fire, connecting on its first four 3-point attempts to take a 14-5 lead early in the contest.
From that point forward, the Pirates worked to slowly get back into the game before taking the lead 33-32 with 4:33 remaining in the first half.
“We played from behind in the first half and that experience is going to pay dividends in the future,” coach Lance Von Vogt said.
“Anytime you stare adversity in the eye and overcome it, you grow. That is what happened with us tonight.”
Columbia Basin, however, was able to take the lead going into halftime at 42-39 after a Dudley Ewell turnover led to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the half.
In the second half — the depth of the Pirates — playing their third game in three days, proved to be just too much, outscoring the Hawks 57-42 in the final stanza.
Five Pirates scored in double figures, including Deshaun Freeman with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds, Dudley Ewell added 11 points, and Sam Waller chipped in with 10 points and dished out a team-high nine assists.
“Our depth really affects the game,” Von Vogt said.
“I am proud of our whole roster with everybody contributing each game. What a great way to start Christmas break.”
The hot shooting continued for the Pirates in the championship game as they made 53.6 percent (37 of 69) from the field, including 52 percent (11 of 21) from the 3-point line.
Semifinal win
In the semifinals, Peninsula started fast and never let Lower Columbia catch up, cruising to a 97-63 victory.
Terrell led the charge, scoring 32 points on a blistering 12 of 14 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
Dudley Ewell added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Pirates.
“Anytime you lead wire-to-wire on a Jim Roffler-coached LCC team, you know your team played well,” Von Vogt said.
“Our guys put together our best 20 minutes of defense in the first half. We pressured the ball on the catch and rotated out of our help situations better than we have in the past.”
The Pirates shot 59.7 percent (37-62) from the field and never trailed, leading by 22 points at halftime (48-26).
“We still need to sustain our defensive effort for a full game, but when we do we could be special because we can really score the basketball,” said Von Vogt.
The Pirates held the Red Devils to 37.3 percent (25-67) shooting for the game while collecting 12 steals, led by Terrell with three and a host of Pirates with two each.
Djuan Smith, who added 10 points, was one of 11 Pirates to score in the contest.
The Pirates will be back in action on Dec. 28 when they take on Yakima Valley in the Clackamas Holiday Invitational in Oregon City, Ore.