Peninsula pulls away on late 2nd half run as Dolphins drop home contest

Shoreline - Peninsula
Photo by Wilson Tsoi

By Drew Raher

The Dolphins could not overcome a scoring drought that plagued them midway through the second half as Peninsula would build a comfortable lead in the last five minutes of the contest for an 89-80 victory.

The first half turned into a back-and-forth affair as each team shot the ball particularly well from the field, with the both teams knocking down over 40% of their attempts. The scoring in the opening half was spread around a variety of players. The Pirates received some unexpected contributions from Juwan Flowers and Geno Horsley who tallied 13 and 10 points respectively in the opening period. Flowers, who came into the game shooting just 20% from three-point distance, converted on three of five tries from outside.

The Dolphins did a nice job on the defensive end holding the Pirates top two leading scorers to only 11 points as Xavier Bazile only made 3 of 10 shots and Tyler Mckinney finished 1 of 7 from the floor.

Shoreline had many different players contribute offensively in the first half, though no player more productive than Earl Thompson (So, Las Vegas, NV) who scored 13 points on 60% shooting. Local product Gage Carroll (So, Shoreline, WA) came off the bench to energize the crowd with two long treys and a timely three-point play on a driving layup en route to nine fist half points.

More important than the points or shooting percentages was the energy and vibe from not only the players on the court for Shoreline, but also the ones on the bench who were in the game from the start. The energy and effort, which Head Coach Greg Turcott had been looking for were on full display against the Pirates for the whole 40 minutes.

The Dolphins opened the second half on an 11-2 spurt, putting the Pirates back on their heels as head coach Mitch Freeman was forced to call two quick timeouts to stop Shoreline’s momentum. As it looked like the Dolphins may increase their lead with the score in the Dolphins’ favor at 44-38, Peninsula went on an 11-0 run of their own to take the lead for good. Shoreline was able to cut into the lead and pull within 8 points, but could not get closer than that.

Shoreline was led by Thompson’s 24 points on 11 of 22 shooting. He also grabbed 16 rebounds for his 7th double-double of the season. Deron Williams (So, Los Angeles, CA) was tallied seven points in both halves for a solid performance of 14 points on 60% shooting. Bronte Corbray (Fr, Seattle, WA) and Carroll finished with nine points apiece.

The Pirates’ Xavier Bazile came alive in the second half as he scored a game-high 25 points. Horsley and Flowers contributed 15 points each.

Shoreline Community College (3-14, 0-6) continues NWAACC play on the road at Whatcom this Saturday and will return home next Wednesday when they play host to Northwest Indian College.

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