SEQUIM — The Sequim boys basketball team has two crucial home games this week that should change the landscape at the top of the Olympic League standings.
Bremerton, tied at second with the Wolves, storms into Sequim tonight to end the first round of league play, and then Olympic — undefeated and currently No. 1 in league — visits Sequim on Friday night to start second-round action.
The Wolves, 6-1 in league and 8-3 overall, is coming off a successful showing at the prestigious Foothill Holiday Classic tournament in Las Vegas last week.
Sequim won two of three games against some of the better prep teams in the West.
The Wolves beat Valhalia of El Cajon, Calif., 57-45, and Bonanza, Nev., 52-46, while losing only to Class 5A powerhouse Abraham Lincoln of Denver, 67-49.
That tourney test couldn’t have come at a better time as the 2A Wolves embark on their toughest league stretch this week.
The teams Sequim played in Las Vegas had the same look and did the same defensive schemes that the Wolves can expect from Bremerton and Olympic, Sequim coach Greg Glasser said.
“In Las Vegas, they pressured us in full court and tried to trap us in the half-court, the same things that Bremerton and Olympic do,” he said.
Bremerton, 6-1 in league and 8-3 overall — identical to Sequim’s record — brings a team with some size and a lot of speed to Sequim tonight at 7.
The Knights’ speed is a bigger issue than their size, Glasser said.
“Their quickness gives teams some fits,” he said.
The Knights, who will be coming to the North Olympic Peninsula in a bad mood after losing 81-74 to Olympic and getting knocked out of a tie for first place just before the holiday break Dec. 21, likes to press teams and uses the 2-3 zone very effectively.
Glasser is hoping the Las Vegas experience will help the Wolves against the two teams challenging them for the league championship.
None of the teams in Las Vegas were pushovers, and they were all in larger classifications than Sequim’s 2A level.
All of the schools the Wolves played had student enrollment of at least 2,000, Glasser said. And one school had a student count of 2,800, the size of a small town.
That is more than twice the size of Sequim’s current enrollment of 937.
On Friday night at 7 the Wolves will be looking for revenge against Olympic, which beat them by three points at Olympic in the first game of league play several weeks ago.
The Trojans are 7-0 in league and 9-2 overall.
Sequim will counter the Knights and Trojans with two of the better players in the league in senior leaders Jayson Brocklesby and Gabe Carter.
Brocklesby is averaging just over 17 points per game while Carter is averaging 14.
And the best news of all is that the Wolves currently are all healthy and raring to go.
“It’s unusual for this time of year, but our kids are pretty healthy,” Glasser said.
“They are not getting the illnesses that are going around.”
Wrestling
Rainshadow tournament
SEQUIM — North Mason won the team title but Sequim, Port Townsend and Port Angeles all fared well at the popular Rainshadow tournament last weekend.
The Wolves had 10 wrestlers place in the top four, including two champions, while the Redskins and Roughriders had nine place each.
Port Townsend also had three champions while the Riders, who had their second string at the tourney, earned one individual title.
Winning for Port Townsend were Shae Shoop at 106 pounds, Jackson Schott at 113 and Trevor Garrett at 182,
Sequim’s Royhon Agostine and Nick Moroles also were winners. Agostine was tops at 126 and Moroles took first at 138.
Luke Mooney of Sequim who had earned most outstanding wrestler awards during Sequim’s last two tourneys, claimed second place while wrestling in the toughest weight in the tourney at 145.
Winner Devon Johnson of Clover Park was voted outstanding wrestler of the tourney.
Port Angeles’ lone win came at 160 where Dallas Olea came away the champion.
Earning runner-up honors were Sequim’s Brandon Field at 132 and Mooney at 152, and Port Angeles’ David Treese at 113, Wyatt Beck at 170 and Kyle LaFritz at 220.
Port Townsend had five earn third places, including Charity Jesionowski at 113, Nicholas Outley at 132, Dillon Ralls at 145, Tristan Minnihan at 160 and Alex Reierson at 220.
Others earning third were Evan Gallacci of Port Angeles at 170, Michael Latimer of Sequim at 195 and Isaiah Nichols of Port Angeles at 285.
Four Wolves took fourth place, including Sophia Cornell at 106, Nick Kovach at 126, Nathan Alison at 220 and Amariah Clift at 285.
Port Angeles, meanwhile, had three take fourth place, including Dyan Wells at 132, Blake Marting at 182 and Zak Alderson at 192.
Bremerton’s Cameron Dubos was honored for recording the most pins during the tourney.
Riders win tournament
BONNEY LAKE — A short-handed Roughrider squad still managed to win the tough 20-team Bonney Lake Classic tournament on the strength of seven semi-finalists, five finalists and two champions.
In all, eight Riders placed in the top eight of their brackets and 10 of 11 won at least one match though only nine actually scored points.
Port Angeles won with a team score of 160.5, followed in the top three by Eastmont with 145 and Tahoma with 122.5.
Individual champions for Port Angeles were Brian Cristion at 170 pounds, and heavyweight Michael Myers.
Second place went to Tyler Gale at 106, Josh Basden at 120 and Ozzy Swagerty at 126.
Matt Robbins earned third place at 182 while Roberto Coronel took fourth at 220 and Eric Wahl took eighth at 195.
The Riders next travel to Kingston for an Olympic League dual Wednesday night with JV action starting at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7 p.m.