PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team had a strong showing in a scrimmage against four-year college Pacific Lutheran on Saturday night.
Peninsula coach Peter Stewart scheduled the Pacific Lutheran Lutes to open the 2009-10 season against a strong opponent.
Stewart said he wanted to find out where the Pirates are with their development at this point early in their season.
The Lutes are a Division III school.
“They would certainly provide a tough test for the young Pirates,” Stewart said.
Stewart said he was looking to get a feel for his eight new players.
The game was considered a scrimmage, and by rule, no score or statistics can be used.
However the eyes of the coaches pick up most of the action.
“I was very pleased with our effort on Saturday,” Stewart said. “It is always refreshing to get a different color uniform in front of the guys. I think I could have pretty well written the script before the game as it would take place, I think I was pretty close.
“I could not have been happier with the physical effort, and I was pleased with where we are at mentally, but we have a grand canyon of space to improve.”
Stewart, in his eighth year at the helm of the Pirates, grades each individual at the end of every practice and game.
“Let’s just say we have plenty to work on this week,” he said.
“I talked with the team afterwards and was very happy with the attitude. They know we can get better and even more importantly, they want to put in the work to get better.”
The scrimmage saw the Pirates control the game early with their intense defense.
Points were hard to come by down the stretch, but Stewart did not fret.
“I knew going in that we would show better and feel better about our defense than the offense. That is par for the course.”
The Pirates next action will be in the form of a scrimmage on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Peninsula College gym against the Blue Angels.
The Blue Angels features past Pirate standouts such as Jesse Bean, Scott Helpenstell and Rayha Munyagi.
Area players expected to participate will be Tony Burke, Mark Shamp, Ben Shamp and Kevin Konopaski.
Pirate practices are open to the public with practice times following: today at 10:15 a.m., Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. and Wednesday through Friday at 3:15 p.m.