FIFE — The Port Angeles boys basketball team shook off a slow start to bury six 3-pointers in the second half, including three straight by Gus Halberg, in a 60-47 victory over Fife in the Roughriders’ West Central District III tournament opener Saturday night.
Halberg ended up hitting a total of five 3-pointers and scored 29 points. The team as a whole hit nine. Keatyn Hoch hit a pair of bombs and finished with 14 points while Blake Sohlberg hit a trey at the first-half buzzer to give the Riders momentum going into the second half.
Port Angeles got off to a shaky start, quickly falling into an 8-0 hole against the Trojans. The Riders crashed the offensive boards well and were getting good shots, but the shots simply weren’t falling early as they entered the second quarter down by double digits at 16-6.
“We just needed to settle down. We had decent shots, we just weren’t making any,” said coach Kasey Ulin. “We talk about getting off to a good start and the exact opposite happened.”
Ulin said the Riders’ 1-3-1 zone defense was huge in turning the tide. “That 1-3-1 kept us in the game until we started making shots,” Ulin said.
The Riders simply dominated the next 21 minutes of play, outscoring Fife 48-23 over that stretch. Port Angeles had a 20-7 second quarter and took its first lead of the game 21-20 with 1:59 left in the first half on a pair of Alex Angevine free throws.
In the second half, Halberg went wild from outside. He hit a 3-pointer to open up Port Angeles’ scoring in the third quarter, then drilled three straight 3-pointers to turn a 37-35 game into a 46-37 within a minute. Hoch and Angevine added 3-point shots as Port Angeles built its lead up to 54-39 with three minutes left in the game. The Trojans were able to score some buckets in the final three minutes but were never able to get Port Angeles’ lead down to single digits.
Angevine finished with eight points. Ulin said the Riders allowed Fife only three offensive boards and had 18 transition points.
Port Angeles (10-12 overall), a No. 9 seed, has now moved on to the double-elimination portion of the tournament. The Riders get to play the No. 1 team in the tournament Bremerton (15-5) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Bremerton. No. 3 seed Sequim will host Foss at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
“We’re excited about where we are. Two wins to go to state,” Ulin said.
Port Angeles 60, Fife 47
PA 6 20 14 20 — 60
Fife 16 7 12 12 — 47
Port Angeles (60) — Halberg 29, Hoch 14, Angevine 8, Sohlberg 5, Hope 4.
Forks 67, Chief Leschi 32
ROCHESTER — The Forks boys basketball team bounced back from a painful opening round loss to Rainier by getting off to a blistering 17-0 start in the first quarter against Chief Leschi, going on to win easily 67-32 in the second round of the District 4 2B tournament to remain alive in the postseason.
The Spartans built up their lead to 25-2 in the second quarter and 48-14 late in the third quarter before letting up on the gas.
Forks had great balance with five players scoring at least nine points. Brody Lausche was unstoppable inside and had 16, while Bubba Hernandez-Stansbury had 11, Gabe Willenbrink 10, and Landen Olson and Noah Foster nine each.
Forks (18-3) will play Mossyrock (6-14) at Castle Rock High School at 6 p.m. Wednesday in its third-round game. The Spartans must win two more games to qualify for the state tournament.
Forks 67, Chief Leschi 32
Forks 17 16 19 15 — 67
CL 0 10 10 12 — 32
Forks (67) — Lausche 16, Stansbury-Hernandez 11, Willenbrink 10, Olson 9, Foster 9, Terrones 4, Davila 2.
Muckleshoot 87, Crescent 49
AUBURN — The Crescent boys basketball team’s season came to a close with an 87-49 first-round Tri-District tournament loss to Muckleshoot.
“They shot well all night, we had some turnovers, and our youth showed,” said coach Chris Ferrier. “We graduate two great seniors in Henry Bourm and Dom Sprague — two guys who have been in the program for four and five years, respectively, and we should return a good core group for the next season.
“I can’t thank all twelve of the guys that finished the season enough; there are never the exact right words to sum up the end of a season but to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth season in a row is quite an accomplishment for these guys and they have a lot to be proud of.”
Eighth-grader Liam Sprague led the Loggers with 11, while Dom Sprague had 10 and Jax Sprague and Josh Noel nine each. Henry Bourm had eight.
