-  Feb 17th, 1996

Sun Staff

Showdown, Part III.

Central Kitsap and Port Angeles, Olympic League boys basketball co-champions, will meet in a

Monday playoff gameat 7:15 p.m. at North Kitsap High School to determine seeding to next week's West Central District AAA Tournament.

Central forced the playoff by beating district rival Olympic 61-42 in its regular-season finale Friday night.

It left Central and PA, which ended its regular season with a win over Sequim, tied with 13-1 league records. CK is 18-2 overall; PA 19-1. They split games earlier, both winning at home.

The winner earns a first-round bye at next week's district tournament and would only need to win one game to reach state. "A huge advantage,'' said CK coach John Sitton. The loser would play a loser-out game Thursday.

"For us to beat PA, we have to control the inside game and control the boards,'' said Sitton.

That's how the Cougars beat Olympic.

"It was rebounding, primarily," said Olympic coach Les Eathorne. "They were getting three or four shots and we were getting one."

Matt Brien, a 6-foot-6 senior, had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Cougs. Central grabbed 14 offensive boards for the game.

Scott Hamre chipped in 12 points. Troy Kelly and Curtis Patnode came off the bench to combine for 10 points and 12 rebounds. Point guard Lamaar Gregory had an outstanding floor game with six points, three assists and two steals.

"They physically wore us out," said Eathorne. "That's a good team. They have talent at every position."

Ervin McDermott hit a couple 3-pointers early to keep Olympic close and led the Trojans with 10 points.

Eathorne, the 72-year-old coach who came out of retirement to take on the Olympic job on an interim basis, said, "We were hoping for better. We were hoping to be at least a spoiler if not in the running."

The Trojans (10-9 overall, 7-6 OL) finished fourth in league play.

Staff photo by Lynn DeLaney Saunders

PASSING LANE: White River's Ryan Banks looks to pass around North Mason's Josh Madsen (5) and Gabe Cagwin, right. White River won 56-55 to clinch a share of the Pierce County League title. Both teams advance to district. See D2