Men’s basketball: Pirates edge Bulldogs in key NWAC North Region battle

North Region standings

Team Rec. Over.

Everett 10-1 22-4

Peninsula 7-4 17-9

Bellevue 6-5 17-9

Edmonds 5-6 17-9

Whatcom 5-6 12-13

Shoreline 4-7 8-14

Skagit Valley 4-7 10-15

Olympic 3-8 13-11

Peninsula racked up a pair of key wins against North Region foes last week, putting the Pirates in a prime spot to lock down a postseason berth this week.

On Saturday night, PC overcame a five-point halftime deficit to overcome the Bellevue Bulldogs and leapfrog their division foes into second place with a 60-55 victory.

Colby Jackson had 27 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals to lead PC,who overcame a dreadful night shooting (18-of-59, 30.5 percent).

Cameron Burton added 12 points for Peninsula (7-4 in conference play, 17-9 overall), who got a bit of revenge after losing by a single point (61-60) at Bellevue on Jan. 20.

Ting-Jhao Jian had 15 points for Bellevue.

The second of back-to-back Jackson 3-pointers with 2:16 left trimmed Bellevue’s lead to 55-54. While PC’s Jackson, Marky Adams and Trent Warren hit free throws down the stretch, the Bulldogs missed three field goals, two free throws and had a turnover in the final 120 seconds.

Peninsula started the week off well with a 73-61 win at home against the Olympic Rangers on Feb. 14.

The Pirates led by as much as 22 with four minutes to go before Olympic closed the gap late.

Eli’sha Sheppard led all scorers with 21 points off the bench for PC. Adams (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Warren (11 points, 10 rebound) both posted double-doubles while Jackson made up for an off-night shooting with seven points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Peninsula out-rebounded Olympic 49-29 and held the Rangers to 36 percent shooting.

David Tserger had 13 points off the bench, the only Olympic player in double figures.

Looking ahead

Peninsula at Skagit Valley on Feb. 21. The Pirates close the regular season with two games games: Feb. 24 vs. Edmonds and Feb. 28 against Whatcom.

The NWAC tournament is March 10-11 and 17-18 in Everett.