PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles boys basketball team had a basket taken away from it in Monday night’s Olympic League showdown with Port Townsend.
As it turns out, the Roughriders (3-1 in league, 4-1 overall) didn’t need it.
Port Angeles weathered a late Port Townsend (1-3, 1-4) rally and a sub-par shooting night to claim its third straight league game, 53-45.
“Port Townsend, they grind it out,” Port Angeles head coach Wes Armstrong said. “It was a good win for us because we have to learn how to grind it out.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re making good progress. I’m proud of the way the guys are working.”
The Riders took care of the ball (only 10 turnovers) and the boards (33-20 rebounding edge) to overcome a pair of 15-point games form Redskins Kylen Solvik and Seiji Thielk.
The latter helped bring Port Townsend within striking distance of the Riders midway through the fourth quarter, hitting a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 9-3 run that whittled the Port Angeles lead to 45-43.
Yet Justin Antioquia found a posting Ian Ward with a perfectly placed lob pass on the Riders’ very next possession.
And Ward — whose putback in the first quarter was not awarded because of a scorer’s error — finished with a lay-in on the left block to put the Riders back up by four with 1 ½ minutes remaining.
Solvik missed a 3 from the wing on the Redskins’ next trip down the court, and they would get not closer the rest of the way.
“Any time you come into PA’s building and you can keep the game close for 30 minutes, that’s a real plus,” Port Townsend coach Tom Webster said.
“That’s been one of our objectives is to play 32 minutes of basketball. We did that tonight I think.
“But they are tough inside. They post up extremely well.”
Indeed, Port Angeles spent much of the game attacking the basket on drives and in the post, taking just five 3-pointers on the game.
As a result, the Riders finished with 31 free throws in the game, making 22.
That more than made up for a rough shooting night from the field (15 of 47).
Port Townsend was 7 of 8 from the charity stripe and 16 of 41 from the field.
“We missed a lot of short chippies, but you gotta give Port Townsend a lot of credit,” Armstrong said. “They just do a really good job of protecting the basket and they are very fundamental defensively.”
Colin Wheeler led the Riders with 12 points, while Hayden McCartney and Antioquia each had eight points.
Ward finished with eight in the scorer’s book . . . not counting one of two first quarter baskets that failed to be tallied, of course.
“That happens. People make mistakes, but thank goodness it didn’t come back and bite us,” Armstrong said of the early scoring error.
Port Townsend finished with 13 assists as a team but were hurt by 17 turnovers.
While Thielk and Solvik each had 15 points — both hit three 3-pointers — only three other Redskins scored. That included seven points and six rebounds from Jacob DeBerry.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Webster said. “If we play that hard and we play, at times, that well I think we can compete with a lot of teams in this league.”
PORT ANGELES 53, PORT TOWNSEND 45
Port Townsend 14 9 11 11 — 45
Port Angeles 16 13 11 13 — 53
Individual Scoring
Port Townsend (45)
Thielk 15, Solvik 15, Rubio 4, Kelly 4, DeBerry 7.
Port Angeles (53)
Wheeler 12, Ward 8, Antioquia 8, McCartney 8, Braithwaite 6, Morgan 5, Uvila 2, Burke 2, Smith 2.