PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles came out on fire and beat highly respected W.F. West 64-51 in its first boys basketball game of the season Wednesday night.
“This was a big win for us,” coach Wes Armstrong said. “W.F. West has a very good program and is a regular in the state tournament.
“I was pretty pleased with our effort. We have worked hard the past two weeks.
“We came out with a lot of fire and intensity.”
The Roughriders shot the lights out in the first quarter with a 22-11 lead going into the second priod.
They led 37-25 at halftime and 54-34 at the end of three periods of play.
Colin Wheeler sparked the Riders with 24 points and nine rebounds while Hayden Mc- Cartney added 11 points and eight boards.
Ian Ward had 13 points while Casey Smith sank nine.
Brock Wade led W.F. West with 21 points.
A key to the game was that the Riders played nearly mistake-free with just one turnover in the first half and 11 for the game.
“In the first half we put a lot of pressure on them defensively and got a lot of turnovers,” Armstrong said.
“We got a lot of fastbreak opportunities from that.”
Armstrong said he was pleased with the play of junior Cameron Braithwaite, who started his first varsity game at point guard.
“Cameron had a good game with six assists and only two turnovers,” Armstrong said.
The Riders next open Olympic League play at Kingston on Friday night.
Crosspoint 56, Quilcene 44
QUILCENE — Crosspoint dominated the Rangers in the second quarter and rode that advantage to a nonleague victory Wednesday night in a nonleague game between two Sea-Tac League teams.
The Rangers, a Class 1B team, stayed with 2B Crosspoint the rest of the game but Crosspoint’s 21-10 advantage in the second period was the difference in the game.
The two teams are in two different Sea-Tac divisions, Crosspoint in 2B and Quilcene in 1B.
“Our kids competed hard,” Quilcene coach Mark Thompson said.
“We have a lot to build on from this game.”
The Rangers led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter but trailed 32-22 at halftime to Crosspoint of Bremerton, which changed its name from King’s West.
“We had lapses in the second quarter against their press,” Thompson said.
“In the second half I thought we played pretty well. We would have some defensive lapses and they would go ahead but then we would come back.”
Brandon Bancroft led the Rangers with 21 points while Dan Davidson sank 10, Mason Jordan had seven and Jake Pleines scored six.
Crosspoint outscored Quilcene 12-9 in the third quarter but the Rangers had a 13-12 advantage in the fourth period.
Quilcene did well on the boards with Bancroft pulling down 11, Jordan and Pleines grabbing seven each and Davidson getting six.
The Rangers next play a nonleague game at Mary M. Knight in Tacoma on Friday night.