With a bit of bad karma, Bellevue College men’s basketball had their high spirits of being ranked in the Under Armour NWAC Coaches’ Poll for the first time this season crushed hours later as the host Peninsula Pirates, coming in with a 4-11 record, upended the Bulldogs 76-72. The Bulldogs, coming off a strong win over Highline last Saturday, had been showing depth and improvement throughout pre-season play and appeared to be firing on all cylinders heading into league play tonight before cold shooting doomed BC as the ‘dogs could only put in 35% of their shots tonight.
Bellevue had plenty of opportunities as the team threw up 71 attempts from the field including 31 of them from three-point territory. BC also appeared to be stronger on the defensive front as well forcing 10 turnovers including nine steals while turning the ball over four times the entire game. Bellevue could not get hot the entire game, shooting only 30% in the first half. Fortunately, the Bulldogs were still in the game and only down by two, 37-35 at halftime thanks to a barrage of fouls by Peninsula, which allowed BC to capitalize with 9-of-12 free throws to make up for the low field goal percentage.
Curtis Walker’s layup just minutes into the second half gave BC the lead as the Bulldogs then possessed the lead for a majority of the second half. With less than two minutes to go it appeared Bellevue would sneak away with a win despite the poor shooting, leading 72-70. Peninsula’s Davien Harris-Williams then decided to carry his squad on his back by draining a three-pointer to give Peninsula a 73-72 lead. The freshman guard then sank two clutch free throws with 17 seconds left to give Peninsula enough cushion for the league-opening win at home.
Andrew Shaw came off the bench and appeared to be the lone Bulldog not affected with cold shooting as he dropped in a team-leading 16 points and was 5-for-8 from three point territory. Walker added 15. Bellevue, now 0-1 in league (9-5 overall) returns home to face off against Skagit Valley this Saturday January 12 at 6:00 p.m.
Last Updated January 9, 2019
