“It was a very difficult game!!”

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“It was a very difficult game!!”

January 6, 2015 by David Svien

Ryan Griggs, seen here in an earlier game, had seven points and nine boards in a tough loss Tuesday night. (John Fisken photo)

Fast starts are kind of their trademark.

So, when the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team stumbled out of the gate Tuesday night in Port Townsend, the Wolves found themselves in a rare case of playing catch-up instead of trying to hold a lead.

It didn’t work out, as an avalanche of fouls (three key players fouled out) and poor shooting combined to drag CHS down and allow the Redhawks to claim their first win of the season.

The 60-51 defeat dropped Coupeville to 0-2 in Olympic League play, 3-7 overall.

That leaves the Wolves mired in last place in the four-team league, trailing Chimacum (1-0, 1-7), Klahowya (1-0, 2-8) and Port Townsend (1-1, 1-7).

The bright spot is there is still a lot of basketball to play.

After non-conference games against South Whidbey (Jan. 12) and Mount Vernon Christian (Jan. 17), the Wolves will close with seven straight league games in a three-week period.

By then, they hope to fine-tune their shooting, something they will continue to work on in practice, said Wolf coach Anthony Smith.

“It was a very difficult game,” he said. “One of the rougher officiated games I’ve witnessed in 20 years of coaching, but that’s no excuse when we miss so many shots on our own.

“We’ll work on what we did right and work on what we did wrong,” Smith added.

The Wolves were cold at the start Tuesday, falling behind 14-5 after the opening eight minutes of play.

While Coupeville continually cut the lead back to three or four, it could never quite get back over the hump.

After each mini-charge, Port Townsend blunted the comeback with a quick score or the Wolves had another player whistled for a foul.

By games end Coupeville had lost three of its best offensive weapons, as Wiley Hesselgrave, Aaron Trumbull and Ryan Griggs all went to the bench for good before the game’s final moments.

With Joel Walstad also in foul trouble and Dalton Martin out, the Wolves struggled to find a game-long rhythm.

Before he fouled out, Hesselgrave poured in nine to share the scoring lead with Aaron Curtin.

Trumbull banked home eight, Griggs soared for seven, Walstad popped for five, Risen Johnson rained down four and CJ Smith and Gabe Wynn each knocked down three.

Griggs hauled in nine boards, while Walstad made off with four steals.