Looking for their fist win

Week 2 of the Bremerton Parks & Rec Fall Men’s Basketball League tipoffs tonight at 6 p.m. in the Sheridan Parks gym with three games on the docket.

Suquamish Tribe (1-0) take on Cyclones (0-1) at 6 p.m.. DC Alumni (1-0) will try for their second win against Under8ted (1-0) in the 7 p.m. game. And, the Bremerton Wildcats (0-1) and Admirals Rec (0-1) round out the night in the 8 p.m. game.

Both the Wildcats and the Admirals are searching for their first win of the young season.

Last Wednesday the Admirals dropped a nailbiter Under8ted, 71-to-70, to the Olympic College Men’s Summer League champions. Jander Cline led the Admirals with 22 points, with Keoni Laguana (14), Owen Wyatt (12) and Kris Richard (10) also scoring double-digits points.

In the late game a week ago, Joseph Kroger led the Wildcats with 18 points and Jumier Johnson recorded his first Wildcats’ double-double, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. It was not enough, as the five Wildcats suited up ran out of gas in the final ten minutes of the game and lost 78-to-58.

Tonight the Wildcats must solve three (3) problems if they are to notch their first win of the season.

First, they have to suit up more than five (5) players. As they found out last week, the Parks & Rec Men’s Div. I League is too competitive to win with the bare minimum player.

PORTUNE

“(Brandon) Cain and I have been working on temporarily adding players to the roster all week,” said Bremerton Wildcats Coach Jim Portune. “We have a complete roster of ten (10) players but it won’t be filled out until the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) return from sea.”

Cain is a Logistics Specialist First Class stationed on the Nimitz. He is currently home on baby leave while his ship is out to see. He lives with his family in Navy housing on Naval Base Kitsap – Bangor.

Portune went on to explain that he received messages all week from players offering their services to come play for the Wildcats. Some, quality players, who have played for the Wildcats before.

“It was tough to turn the players down,” Portune stated. “But one of the Wildcats objectives this year is to play games throughout the Puget Sound area. Tthe players that texted me have shown they only want to play at Sheridan.”

Second, the Wildcats have to reduce their number of turnovers if they hope to win tonight.

“I am not sure if it was opening night jitters,” Portune said, “being out of shape or the adaption to a new team but we had 19 turnovers, move than 25% of our possessions, and that cost us 20 points last Wednesday. The exact margin we lost by.”

Third, they have to grab more offensive rebounds. Johnson (2) and Teni Vaoifi (1) had the Wildcats only three (3) offensive rebounds in 40 minutes game.

“I am a big offensive rebounding coach,” Portune explained. “I believe that if you control the offensive board you win the game, no matter what your shooting percentage is.”

Tonight will be the fourteenth time the Wildcats and the Admirals have taken the court against each other. The Wildcats currently hold a 10-to-3 advantage in the rivalry that dates back to 2014.

Just this summer the Wildcats defeated the Admirals twice in the OC Men’s Summer League. The Admirals last victory, 100-to-78, came in the Bremerton Parks and Rec Spring Post-League Tournament.