COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Men’s backs against the wall; PC women win share of North title

PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s basketball team had a chance to clinch a playoff spot, but lost a heartbreaker to Bellevue 91-89 in overtime Saturday, putting the Pirates in a must-win position Wednesday to make the NWAC tournament.

With the loss, the men at tied for fourth place in the North Region at 7-6. The good news is the Pirates get to play the team they’re tied with, Shoreline, at home at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Peninsula’s regular-season finale. Win, and the Pirates end up either tied for third place or all alone in fourth place.

Meanwhile, the Peninsula women clinched at least a share of the North Region championship with a commanding 58-41 win over the Bellevue women.

In the men’s game, Peninsula was forced to battle back from a huge deficit late in the second half. Bellevue was up 67-59 with 7:09 left in the game. Three-pointers by Rayshawn Harris, Isaac Garcia and Jaylin Reed helped give the Pirates a brief lead at 73-72 with 2:55 to play.

Bellevue was clinging to an 80-77 lead with seven seconds left when Reed was fouled while taking a 3-pointer. Reed made three straight free throws to tie the game at 80-80, sending the contest to overtime.

In OT, Bellevue had a lead of 91-89 when a 3-pointer by Roosevelt Williams Jr. wasn’t able to go at the buzzer.

Reed led the team with 24 points and nine rebounds. He made three 3-pointers and shot 11-for-12 from the free-throw line. Harris also hit three 3-pointers on five shots and finished with 16 points. Michael Medlock, KeAndre Hunter-Holiday and Garcia all had 10 points, while Isaiah Sampson had nine. Williams had 10 assists.

The men’s loss continued a strange pattern going back 10 straight games of alternating wins and losses (with another six straight games of alternating wins and losses earlier in the season). It was also the Pirates’ second-straight loss in overtime.

Bellevue 91, Peninsula 89 OT

Bell. 42 38 11 — 91

PC 34 46 9 — 89

Bellevue (91) — Sze 29, Tosi 21, Janssen 17, Barker 7, Olesen 5, Hersrud 4, Johnson 4, Peter 2, Briceno 2.

Peninsula (89) — Reed 24, Harris 16, Medlock 10, Garcia 10, Hunter-Holiday 10, Sampson 9, Williams 6, Dean 4.

Women’s game

The women won 58-41, but even that score is misleading about just how dominant the Pirates were in this game. Peninsula entered the fourth quarter up 50-25 and up until that point, held Bellevue to just 24.4 percent shooting from the floor.

The Pirates had a whopping 21 steals in the game and took 67 shots to Bellevue’s 54. It was the women’s 11th game this season allowing fewer than 50 points. Peninsula is third in the NWAC in scoring defense at 53.2 points a game.

Sequim’s Hope Glasser continued her hot hand of late, leading the team with 17 points. After a slow start to her season, Glasser is averaging 14.7 points a game over the past 10 games.

Port Angeles’ Millie Long had 16 points and six steals, while fellow former Roughrider Madison Cooke had seven rebounds and five steals.

Ituau Tuisaula had eight points and 10 rebounds, while Keeli-Jade Smith had seven points and six rebounds.

The Pirates had already clinched a playoff spot. With the win, Peninsula at 12-1 in the North Region (21-3 overall), is guaranteed at least a share of the North championship. Whatcom is 11-2 in league with both teams having one game left. Whatcom and Peninsula have split two games against each other.

Peninsula can win the North outright and a No. 1 seed with a win Wednesday evening against Shoreline, which is a solid team at 9-4 in league and 15-9 overall.

The women’s game is at 5 p.m. with the men’s game at 7 p.m.

Peninsula 58, Bellevue 41

Bell. 10 7 8 16 — 41

PC 13 22 15 8 — 58

Bellevue (41) — Henry 11, Byrnes 7, Rodriguez 6, Van Ess 4, Aasland 4, Bell 4, Ioaue 3, Jackson 2.

Peninsula (58) — Glasser 17, Long 16, Tuisaula 8, Smith 7, Kamae 4, Cooke 4, Kaganak 2.