Hunter Smith (3), seen here in an earlier game, poured in 16 Tuesday, one of three Wolves to break double digits. (John Fisken photo)
Never turn your back on a Wolf.
Chimacum may be the defending 1A Olympic League boys’ basketball champs, but Coupeville is coming for that title.
There is no doubt about that.
Throwing down a 27-point fourth quarter Tuesday night, in which six different players scored, the Wolves rallied for a 72-65 road win that has sent reverberations through the league standings.
The third straight win for a suddenly-jelling CHS squad, it lifted Coupeville to 7-6 overall, 2-1 in league play.
A win Friday night at Port Townsend (5-8, 3-0) and the Wolves will be tied for first place with five games to play.
Chimacum (3-11, 1-2) would claim the league’s third and final playoff berth right now, while Klahowya (1-13, 0-3) would be on the outside looking in.
The Cowboys and Eagles also face off Friday.
Playing in the opening game of a doubleheader Tuesday, the Coupeville boys battled basket for basket with Chimacum for the first three quarters. But they couldn’t quite get over the hump.
Down 14-12 after one, they trailed 31-27 at the half and 49-44 after three.
Maybe.
If that’s true, Coupeville’s 27-16 performance in the fourth should have given them a 71-65 win, and that’s what the scoring totals in the book reflect.
But the Chimacum scoreboard operator, and both coaches, are hanging their hats on 72-65, so we’ll just have to accept a point got lost somewhere.
Either way, the Wolves closed like a team with its eyes locked firmly on the prize.
Silky-smooth senior guard Risen Johnson poured in eight of his team-high 18 in the final quarter, and Coupeville, a streaky team when it comes to hitting free throws, was a sizzling 8 of 11 at crunch time.
Jordan Ford came up big as well, with six in the fourth, while Hunter Smith chipped in with five and Wiley Hesselgrave netted all four of his points at the end.
Coupeville continues to be a very well-balanced squad, with three players in a virtual dead-heat for the team scoring lead.
Hesselgrave, at 156 points on the season, is narrowly ahead of Johnson and Ford, who are tied with 151.
Smith, who missed a chunk of the season with an injury, continues to heat up as he gets his legs back under himself.
He hit for 16 on the night, coming on the heels of a 19-point performance against Stevenson Friday.
Ford (14), DeAndre Mitchell (7), Gabe Wynn (4), Dante Mitchell (4), Hesselgrave (4), JJ Johnson (3) and Desmond Bell (1) rounded out the scorers.
The missing point? We’ll never know, but hey, when you win, who cares?
JV falls short:
Missing three players, including two starters, the Wolf young guns hung with Chimacum for most of the first half, but went cold in the second half, falling 68-35.
The loss dropped the JV to 2-9 overall, 0-3 in league play.
The Wolves got all of their scoring from three players, with Brian Shank leading the way with 17.
Ty Eck added 13, including three treys, while Ariah Bepler netted five.
