Coming into Friday night’s game, Sequim head coach Greg Glasser expected a scrappy game between his team and its cross-peninsula rival.
That’s exactly what he and the Wolves got — and perhaps a bit more than they could handle.
Port Angeles overcame a 10-0 first quarter deficit to edge the visiting Sequim squad 37-31 in front of a raucous Roughrider crowd.
“I thought we did a good job of executing the game plan, which was keeping the ball out of the post,” Glasser said.
Specifically, Sequim wanted to keep the ball from Lambros Rogers, the Roughriders’ long and lean forward who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
“He wanted that (win),” Glasser said. “He’s a good athlete and he was hungry.”
Sequim jumped out early on the strength of solid rebounding with four offensive rebounds in the opening frame. Payton Glasser’s three-pointer with 1:22 on the clock put the Wolves up 10-0, but baskets by PA’s Noah McGoff and Janson Pederson cut the lead in half before the end of the frame.
Nick Faunce scored each of Sequim’s eight points in the second quarter, but the rest of the Wolves went cold, and a Grayson Peet triple just before halftime sent the Riders into the locker room with a 19-8 lead.
Port Angeles held onto the lead after three quarters thanks to some sloppy Sequim passing — that led to back-to-back turnovers — and Rogers’ work on the offensive boards that led to a pair of baskets.
Despite a rough start to the fourth quarter (1-for-6 from the field, turnover), Sequim was within striking distance after Riley Cowan’s putback helped Sequim to creep to within 31-28. But McGoff sank a 3-pointer to give Port Angeles a six-point lead with just 2:30 to play.
SHS’s Jackson Oliver closed the gap with a two-point basket. The Wolves then forced Port Angeles to win the game at the free throw line. The strategy almost worked, as the Riders missed five of their final six charity stripe attempts. But the Wolves missed two shots and had a pair of critical turnovers that sealed their fate.
Glasser, the Sequim coach, said his Wolves may have let their emotions get the better of themselves in this, their most heated league rivalry.
“A tight game brings out emotions itself; our guys have to remain poised,” Glasser said. “I didn’t do a good job of that myself. Emotion’s a good thing (but we’ve) got to be able to play through it.”
Faunce finished with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Jack Shea added eight points and nine boards, and Oliver added seven points.
McGoff had 12 points and four steals for Port Angeles.
Bearing down on Bulldogs
Sequim jumped out to an eight-point lead and held on to beat North Mason’s Bulldogs in a Jan. 5 nail-biter, 69-65.
Payton Glasser sank nine of 10 free throws on his way to a game-high 21 points and Oliver added 18 points, helping lead Sequim to the squad’s first league win.
Glasser hit seven of eight from the charity stripe in the final quarter to help seal the victory.
“It was a good for him — a confidence-builder,” Sequim head coach Greg Glasser, who’s also the father of the sophomore guard, said.
Shea added 14 points and seven rebounds, and Faunce chipped in with 12 points. Cowan led Sequim with nine rebounds while Oliver had eight.
“(North Mason) got back into the game — they’re a very scrappy team, hungry,” Greg Glasser said. “They were looking for a win, like we were.”
Freshman Trey Fisher led the Bulldogs with 19 points and Brice Solis added 15.
The Sequim coach said that, other than league-leading North Kitsap, there isn’t much separation from teams in the Olympic League.
“Our league is different than in any other of my 10 years,” Greg Glasser said. “Everyone else is in there.”
Falling to NK, late
In the first of four consecutive home games, Sequim fell at home, 62-42, to league-leading North Kitsap on Jan. 11 (results of the game were too late for the print edition of the Gazette).
Cole Rabedeaux and Kohlten Barringer-Mahitka led a balanced Viking offense with 14 points while teammate Kainen Warren added 12.
Oliver led Sequim with 12 points and Faunce added 10, but the Wolves shot just 15-of-46 (33 percent) from the field. SHS’s Riley Cowan had a team-high nine rebounds.
Looking ahead
In the first of four consecutive home games, Sequim was scheduled to play North Kitsap on Jan. 11 — results of the game were too late for this section of the paper.
The Wolves take on Chimacum on Jan. 13, Bremerton on Jan. 15 and Sammamish on Jan. 16 before playing at Kingston on Jan. 19.
Olympic League standings
(as of Jan. 12)
Team Lg. Over.
North Kitsap 5-0 11-2
Bremerton 3-1 5-5
Port Angeles 3-2 7-6
Olympic 3-2 7-6
Kingston 2-2 5-6
Sequim 1-5 4-8
North Mason 0-5 4-8
