Peninsula boys stifle Gig Harbor, roll to 59-36 3A SSC victory
The formula for constructing an effective defense becomes so much easier when you have a 6-foot-9 shot-blocker towering over one side of the equation.
Peninsula senior Kaleb Lichau showcased his entire repertoire on Wednesday night, protecting the rim from a wide variety of bewildered and bereft Gig Harbor ball handlers in a 59-36 Seahawks victory over the Tides at Peninsula High School.
“He’s a game-changer. He makes me look like I know what I’m doing,” Peninsula head coach Matt Robles chuckled. “We just sit him in there and he makes up for a lot of my mistakes – he either blocks a shot or alters a shot, and he rebounds so well. He’s just a luxury to have.”
The Seahawks didn’t make many mistakes on the evening, locking down the paint defensively for long, punishing stretches and forcing the Tides to settle for longer looks – or else watch as their layups got sent back by Lichau.
“I think we just needed to play hard,” Lichau said. “Our emphasis was flying around, getting deflections and forcing the ball to the middle. They have a bunch of shooters and we did a really good job of taking them away.”
On the other end, freshman phenom Luke Browne dazzled a packed house with a dizzying array of crossovers, spin moves and pretty baskets.
“He’s a special talent, only a freshman,” Robles said. “He can score it, he can handle it and on the flip side, he really defended his area well and he rebounded really well. But to have a freshman come in and impact the game at this level, we know we have something special on our hands.”
Browne finished with 13 points, including 8 in a second half the Tides tried to make interesting. After trailing 21-9 at the break, Gig Harbor closed the gap to just five points twice as Christian and Drew Parrish combined to score 11 points in the third quarter.
Then, as the first seconds started to run off the clock to begin the fourth quarter, Drew Parrish barreled through Lichau and the paint to score his fourth bucket of the second half, cutting the Peninsula lead to 38-33. As Parrish turned to run back down the court, he made some contact with the fallen Lichau and appear to kick out at him, resulting in Parrish’s ejection.
The fired-up Seahawks turned on a 21-3 run to close out the game, including a pair of deep 3-pointers from the big man, who finished with three triples and 11 points.
“I was kinda mad because I’ve known that kid since fourth grade, we played together,” he explained afterward, before brushing the incident off. “But it’s not that big of a deal – it’s basketball.”
The Seahawks enjoyed the victory after the buzzer sounded, mingling with fans on the court before taking the party back to the locker room.
“We’re excited,” Robles grinned. “After our slow start to the season, to kind of bounce back and respond to that adversity? They were having a blast, splashing the water – I told them, try not to get it on me, but whatever they want to do, they earned it with a hard-fought victory tonight.”
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 12:27 AM.