SEQUIM — It might take another 100 years for Port Angeles and Sequim to match Thursday night’s epic boys basketball showdown.
If so, it will be worth the wait.
The Port Angeles Roughriders crashed the Sequim Wolves’ centennial celebration with a dramatic 73-68 double overtime victory before a packed Rick Kaps Gymnasium.
Senior Ian Ward scored eight of his game-high 23 points in the second OT to help end the Riders’ two-game losing streak against the Wolves and take sole possession of second place in the Olympic League.
“It’s amazing,” said Ward, who had been 1-3 against Sequim in his previous two years on varsity. “It was a hell of a game. I’m like speechless.”
After a game that featured 11 lead changes in the fourth quarter alone, the 6-foot-3 senior post likely wasn’t alone on that front.
Port Angeles head coach Wes Armstrong was still sweating several minutes after the game came to a close, finally able to relax after getting his first win against Sequim.
“I feel good for the kids. It’s great for the kids,” Armstrong said. “This was a big win for them, so I’m extremely happy for the kids.
“These kids have no quit in them. There’s been several games this year where we lost the lead and we always respond.
“I was really very pleased with our senior leadership tonight. And I’m very proud of the way Cameron Braithwaite played.”
Indeed, Braithwaite came through several times for the Riders (7-2 in league, 9-4 overall) in the fourth quarter, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and a free throw that tied the game at 56 with five seconds left in regulation.
Yet it was Ward who was the hero in the end, sinking all four of his shots in the second overtime, including three straight to give the Riders a 68-62 lead to begin the frame.
He added one more layin off a full court inbounds pass as time expired to finish 9 of 20 from the field with eight rebounds and two assists.
“I just got the mindset that I wasn’t going home without a ‘W,'” Ward said. “I was doing all I can to help the team.”
In reality, it was a game that had many heros on both sides.
Port Angeles was ahead by as many as 14 points at 36-22 in the third quarter before the Wolves came storming back.
Sequim went on a 10-0 run near the end of the third, then eventually took a 39-38 lead on a Nick Camporini layup with 6:46 to go in the fourth.
Camporini went on to score 11 of his team-high 22 points during that frame, one that saw the lead change hands 10 more times.
“We’ve won a lot of games this year,” said Sequim coach Greg Glasser, whose team fell to 7-3 in league and 11-4 overall with the loss.
“We went into Bainbridge and beat them, and that was such a big win for us. But I don’t think I’m more proud of a group of kids than I am right now.
“They got down and they battled back and they showed a lot of composure in doing that. The whole group showed a lot of maturity in the way they played.”
Rider senior Colin Wheeler had with 20 points, three assists and a team-high nine rebounds for the Riders.
His 3-pointer with 50 seconds to go in regulation gave Port Angeles a brief 55-53 lead. Port Angeles had 15 assists and just seven turnovers on the night.
Sequim sophomore Jason Brocklesby responded with three of his 19 points on the other end 25 seconds later, getting fouled on a weakside layup then hitting the free throw for a 56-55 Wolves edge.
That was just one of several big plays for the sophomore forward, who also had 16 rebounds on the game, including five on the offensive end.
“We played pretty good after the first two quarters,” Brocklesby said. “We played more as a team in the fourth and third quarters.
“I don’t know what happened [in OT]. I think we got a little tired and we just did not run like we should have.”
Sequim’s one-point lead ended up being short-lived as well, with Braithwaite drawing a foul on the next play and sinking one of two free throws to send it to OT.
Port Angeles went ahead 62-58 in the first overtime after Hayden McCartney set up Justin Antioquia for a fastbreak layup then hit a 14-footer one minute later.
Fittingly, Sequim responded with a putback from Kenneth Meier and a baseline drive by Camporini to knot the game once again at 62 with 24 seconds to go.
Ward missed two shots in the paint to close out that period, but he went on to redeem himself in the next one.
Port Angeles 73, Sequim 68 (2OT)
Port Angeles 9 18 11 18 6 11 — 73
Sequim 5 13 16 22 6 6 — 68
Port Angeles (73)
Morgan 3, Braithwaite 8, Walker 5, Antioquia 2, Ward 23, Wheeler 20, McCartney 10, Smith 2.
Sequim (68)
Hill 2, Meier 4, Carter 9, Webb 9, Brocklesby 19, Camporini 22, Guan 3.
Girls Basketball Port Angeles 68, Sequim 21
SEQUIM — The Riders took little pity on a Lea Hopson-less Wolves team in Thursday night’s Olympic League showdown.
Senior guard Alison Knowles knocked down 5 of 11 3-pointers and scored all of her game-high 17 points in the first two quarters as the Riders raced out to a 37-9 halftime lead and never looked back.
“We shot the ball really well,” said Knowles, whose team was ranked fourth in Class 2A by the Associated Press this week. “In the first half we looked for the right shots it seemed to me. I thought we played really well. We came out with a lot of intensity.”
The Riders (9-0, 10-2) dished out 21 assists while turning the ball over just 10 times Thursday night.
Junior Kiah Jones had nine of those assists by herself, seven in the first half, while also grabbing seven rebounds and hitting 7 of 13 shots for 15 points.
That more than made up for an off night by Rider scoring leader Jessica Madison, who didn’t hit her first basket of the night until the fourth quarter and had just 13 points.
With the Wolves’ box and one defense focussed on shutting down the Port Angeles senior guard, the rest of the Riders cashed in.
“Their defense will shift to one side and if you skip it [across the court] they are slow on getting out and that’s why you get that open shot,” Knowles said.
“We really worked on going up against a zone and attacking [in practice] and that helped us out a lot tonight.”
The Wolves (6-4, 9-6) had no answer to Port Angeles’ pressure defense on the other end, hitting just 8 of 37 shots and turning the ball over 34 times.
Of course, it didn’t help that the team’s spark plug and leading scorer, Hopson, was on the bench in blue jeans because of a back injury suffered in Tuesday night’s win over Port Townsend.
“It did hurt us,” Wolves coach Stephanie Lewis said. “We couldn’t really run our press.
“It definitely affected us, but I still feel that we should be able to compete with them the next time around when she’s back.”
Port Angeles 68, Sequim 21
Port Angeles 14 23 11 20 — 68
Sequim 7 2 3 9 — 21
Port Angeles (68)
K. Jones 15, Knowles 17, Walker 4, Madison 13, Frazier 5, Johnson 8, Rodocker 2, Jeffers 4.
Sequim (21)
Balkan 3, Haupt 4, Harrison 7, Soha 1, Zbaraschuk 6.