Coupeville Sports

   Wiley Hesselgrave is Coupeville’s top scorer this season, averaging 12 a game. (John Fisken photo)

The door to the playoffs is still open, but it’s closing fast.

Riddled with injuries, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad is limping to the finish line, in dire need of a win to keep its season alive.

After suffering a 58-39 loss at Klahowya Friday, the Wolves sit at 5-11 overall and 1-5 in Olympic League play.

That puts them in last place in the four-team league, trailing Chimacum (5-1), Klahowya (4-2) and Port Townsend (2-4) and facing a must-win game Tuesday.

The top three teams make the postseason.

If they make the ferry trip across to Port Townsend and beat the Redhawks for a second time this season, things will look a lot better. That would slide them into a third-place tie and give them the tiebreaker.

If they lose, however, they’re done.

Two back with two to play (home games against Chimacum Feb. 6 and Klahowya Feb. 9) and Port Townsend owning the tiebreaker would eliminate Coupeville from postseason contention.

Friday night the Wolves had three decent quarters and one terrible one.

Coming out of the halftime locker room trailing by just six, Coupeville went ice-cold from the field in the third quarter, sealing its fate.

Outscored 16-3 over an eight minute stretch, the Wolves, who were playing without Joel Walstad, Ryan Griggs, Gabe Wynn, Jared Helmstadter and Dalton Martin, were unable to stop the Eagles from putting the game out of range.

The team’s most potent offensive weapon, junior Wiley Hesselgrave, did his best to keep CHS in the game, throwing down 23, but the Wolves only got scoring from three other players.

Aaron Curtin and Risen Johnson each popped for six, while Aaron Trumbull, fighting through his own injury issues, banked home four.

Second quarter blues kill JV:

Injuries also hurt the JV squad, as top scorers DeAndre Mitchell and Hunter Smith were limited to just a quarter of play so they could slide up and replace missing players on the varsity team.

After a close first quarter (9-9), Klahowya surged to a 17-point halftime spread on its way to a 55-33 win.

The loss dropped the young Wolves to 6-9 overall, 3-3 in Olympic League play.

They’ll get a chance to get back on their winning ways when they face Port Townsend, a team they’ve beaten twice this season.

“Three games to go. Trying to go 6 and 3 in conference,” said Wolf coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh. “We look to get Gabe Wynn back Tuesday in Port Townsend. We will see how things go.”