Senior JJ Johnson was electric Friday, scoring a career-high 19 in a win that clinched a playoff berth for Coupeville. (John Fisken photo)
One team was fighting for the playoffs. The other for a bit of dignity.
In the end, both teams got what they were looking for, though one will be a lot happier about it tomorrow.
Playing the best single minute of ball they have put together all season, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad used an 8-0 run at the end Friday to upend visiting Klahowya 64-60 in a wild one.
The victory lifted the Wolves to 3-3 in league play, 8-8 overall and clinches the program’s second straight playoff berth.
Port Townsend (5-1, 7-10) was stunned 58-56 by defending 1A Olympic League champ Chimacum (4-2, 6-11) Friday, preventing the RedHawks from clinching the conference title.
With three games left in the regular season (Tuesday at home vs. Port Townsend, Thursday at Chimacum, Saturday at Klahowya), Coupeville is still in play to finish anywhere from first to third.
Klahowya (0-6, 1-16) has been eliminated from postseason contention.
Friday night the Wolves faced an Eagles squad that has had an extremely rough season, with losses piling up and their coach having to quit for health reasons.
Seemingly pinning their season on an upset, they came dangerously close, hitting back-to-back three-balls — after their best two players had fouled out — to stake themselves to a 60-56 lead.
It was then that Coupeville, and senior buddies Wiley Hesselgrave and JJ Johnson in particular, stood up and said, in a unified voice loud enough to drown out the raucous Klahowya students who had invaded the Wolf side of the bleachers, “NO MA’AM!!”
Hesselgrave, who for the last four years has been a model of consistency as the CHS boys’ basketball program has rebuilt around his burly shoulders, kicked things off in classic fashion.
Taking the ball at the top of the key, he lowered his shoulder and dared any Eagle to stand up to his charge up the gut.
None were brave enough to accept, and he banked home a bucket to chop the lead in half.
Then came a bit of a surprise, as Johnson, who is primarily a long-range gunner (and was out of his mind, dropping treys from every angle on this night), tied things up with a put-back off a rebound.
It might not really be the first time the Wolf sniper has found himself in the heart of the paint, but it was by far his most emphatic gut-check of a basket since he first put on the red and white.
With the Coupeville crowd hollering (led by Wolf legends Kacie Kiel and Sydney Autio verbally poking the upstart visiting fans who had been mocking them most of the night), the Eagles fell apart in the spotlight.
Harassed unmercifully by the Wolves, Klahowya picked the worst time ever to commit a shot clock violation, putting the ball back in Coupeville’s hands.
At which point the Wolves, who had struggled at the free throw line all night, suddenly got really darn good.
Hesselgrave drained a pair with 18.4 ticks to go, giving CHS back the lead, then Johnson stuck in the final dagger.
First he hustled his rear off, getting into position at exactly the right moment to draw an offensive foul on an out-of-control Eagle who came crashing through the paint.
Then, on the ensuing in-bounds play, Johnson beat his man to the corner, pulled the pass in and hugged it to his chest as he was hammered by the defender.
Capping a truly stellar evening, he tickled the twines on both of his freebies, setting off a rolling wave of celebration that enveloped the gym as the buzzer ended Klahowya’s upset chances.
The wild finish capped a game that lurched back and forth all night long.
With Coupeville’s shooting touch a bit cold in the early going — the Wolves only hit one field goal in the first quarter — the Eagles carried a 14-9 lead into the first break.
Enter Johnson, who lit a fire under the offensive attack, raining down 10 by himself in the second quarter.
The Wolves hit four consecutive treys — two from JJ Johnson and one each from Hesselgrave and Risen Johnson — to get back in things, then capped the half with a 10-5 run.
The final bucket was a thing of sheer beauty, as Risen Johnson ran the clock down to almost zero, then suddenly hit the jets, slashed through the paint and scooped up a runner that started with the ball between his legs as he went airborne.
Klahowya wasn’t ready to quit, though, and the second half saw seven ties and eight lead changes.
Coupeville actually spent much of the fourth quarter trailing, with the widest margin at five, before staging its final run for glory.
Hesselgrave pumped in eight of his game-high 20 in the fourth quarter, while JJ Johnson torched the nets for 19, his best performance as a Wolf.
Risen Johnson dropped in eight, Jordan Ford banged for six, Hunter Smith popped for five and Gabe Wynn (3), DeAndre Mitchell (2) and Dante Mitchell (1) rounded out the attack.
Jared Helmstadter and Desmond Bell also saw floor time, and brought energy and hustle to a win in which every member of the Wolves had an impact on the game.
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