KINGSTON — The Kingston High School boys basketball team avenged an early season loss and stayed in the hunt for the Olympic League title Tuesday with a 63-50 win over Port Angeles.

The Buccaneers (10-4 overall, 7-3 league) began the 2009-10 season with a three-game winning streak and suffered their first loss Dec. 11 at Port Angeles (7-7 overall, 6-5 league). Their sole win last year came from a victory over the Roughriders. Tuesday’s win kept Kingston in third place in the Olympic League, just one and a half games behind Bremerton and one behind North Mason. It was also cathartic.

“It’s great,” junior forward Zane Ravenholt said. “We lost to them the fourth game of the season … and we really wanted revenge.”

Ravenholt led the Bucs with 21 points and seven rebounds. Teammate Sam Byers added 11 points and seven boards as well.

Kingston Coach Blake Conley said he was interested to see how the Bucs would respond to a team that beat them in their first meeting. The result was ultimately positive, but Kingston struggled at times.

“I think for a little while we played not to lose instead of to win,” Conley said. “When they started to press, that bothered us a little bit. They picked up the intensity and it took us a little bit to match that intensity.”

Still, Conley said he was pleased with the way Kingston eventually responded.

“I thought our effort was pretty good tonight,” he said.

That effort helped keep the Buccaneers’ heads above water for the entire game. The Bucs and Roughriders fought evenly through the first quarter, exchanging one- and two-point leads. Port Angeles point guard Antonio Stevenson repeatedly drove the lane and sank shots at will from anywhere inside 20 feet. He scored eight of his 10 points in the first quarter alone.

But the Bucs countered, using the 6-foot-3 Ravenholt to work the ball inside for short hook shots and jumpers. The Roughriders have three starters just as tall as Ravenholt, but none could stop him from scoring 11 in the opening period.

By the end of the quarter Kingston led 17-15. The Bucs would only expand their lead from there. By halftime, Kingston’s advantage was 11 points. The Bucs grabbed their biggest lead midway through the third quarter, after two straight inside jumpers from Ravenholt put them up 41-25.

Ravenholt said his team’s strength and endurance helped propel them to victory.

“We just had more energy,” he said. “We knew if we pushed they’d probably roll over.”

It took some time before the Roughriders gave way.

“In the first part of the game, they pushed just as hard back.”

Port Angeles fought to within six points of the lead early in the fourth quarter. But the Bucs didn’t stop scoring, and tightened their defense to keep the Roughriders from gaining more ground.

“We knew they were getting frustrated,” Ravenholt said. “I was still a little nervous until we had about two and a half minutes left. We scored on a fast break and I saw the other team drop their heads.”

Kingston’s remaining schedule pits them against some of the top teams in the Olympic League, as well as district rival North Kitsap. The Vikings and Bucs play in Kingston Feb. 2.

But Conley said the team will focus on each game as it comes. On Friday, the Bucs will host Sequim. Kingston eked out a 46-42 overtime win over the Wolves earlier this month, and aren’t taking anything for granted.

“We’ve got to really prepare for Sequim,” Conley said. “They’re going to bring it at us.”