Gabe Wynn, seen here earlier in the season, hit seven treys Friday as part of a 26-point night. (John Fisken photo)
Sometimes all you can do is shake your head.
Friday night, a battered but not bowed Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team came within a single play of pulling off the biggest upset of the season. But it wasn’t to be.
Tied at 59 with Olympic League champ Port Townsend — after Gabe Wynn hit his seventh three-ball of the night after being set up by a phenomenal hustle play by teammate Brian Shank — the Wolves had fought back from eight down in the game’s final minutes.
With the RedHawks bringing the ball up the court with 27 ticks on the shot clock and 29 on the game clock, CHS played note-perfect defense.
They kept the ball out of Berkley Hill’s hands. Out of Detrius Kelsall’s hands. Out of Noa Montaya’s hands or Kaiden Parcher’s hands.
They forced Port Townsend’s fifth option to take the final shot … and Jacob Boucher dropped the dagger.
The shortest guy on the court at 5-foot-9, Boucher was the biggest at the end, knifing the Wolves with a three-ball that hit nothing but the bottom of the net with four seconds to play, lifting Port Townsend to a 62-59 victory in an over-heated Coupeville gym.
It was a gut shot of an ending, but it shouldn’t erase everything that went right Friday for the Wolves.
They now sit at 1-5 in league play, 1-13 overall (PT is 7-0, 12-3), and, for the moment, slide a half-game behind Klahowya (1-4, 3-12) for the league’s third and final playoff spot.
Next week will be huge for Coupeville, as it hits the road for games at Klahowya Tuesday and Chimacum Friday.
Beat the Eagles in the first of those two games and the Wolves will slide back into third place. They would also hold a tiebreaker with a victory, as they would take the season series 2-1.
Play like they did Friday night and the Wolves will blast Klahowya off the floor.
Coupeville opened strong, never fell apart when Port Townsend made its expected runs, and was there right at the end, putting up such a strong fight it’s rumored at least three people in the student section might have looked up from their phones.
Port Townsend’s final five baskets were all from Steph Curry Land, three from Kelsall, AKA The Assassin, and the RedHawks looked like they had the game on ice after a Hill trey stretched their lead to 56-48.
Enter Shank, who played the best ball of his career in the game’s final four minutes.
The Wolf senior knocked down a pair of buckets sandwiched around a successful charge up the gut from Ethan Spark, then, after two free throws from Hunter Smith pulled CHS to 59-56, Shank and Wynn teamed up on the play of the year.
Coupeville missed its first attempt at tying the game but Shank, trapped in a pack of RedHawks, ripped the rebound free from a rival, tipped it skyward and somehow, against all odds, came away with the ball.
The only problem? He had three Port Townsend players hammering him around the head and shoulders.
Keeping perfect composure, Shank went low and threaded the ball to Wynn, who rose up and let fly from the top of the arc.
The ball hung in the air, a thousand (OK, maybe a hundred) people stopped breathing, and then the ball dropped through the twines and the joint went bonkers.
It’s believed that Wynn’s seven treys in one game are a CHS record. Brad Sherman (2003) and Brian Fakkema (2002) each hit six back in their heydays.
Wynn dropped three of his three-balls in the game’s opening eight minutes, as the Wolves jumped on Port Townsend early.
Up 17-13 after one quarter, they held the lead for the game’s first 12 minutes.
Port Townsend finally surged back in front at 23-21 with four minutes to go in the half, but Coupeville wouldn’t be flustered.
Three buckets — each coming on plays where teammates set each other up — staked the Wolves to a 28-26 lead at the break.
The first basket was a layup by Wynn, on which Smith went airborne along the sideline to save a loose ball, flicked it to Shank, then watched as he redirected it for the assist.
After that came a three-ball from (surprise, surprise) Wynn, off of a Spark steal, then a layup by Smith, who got a flawless feed from Cameron Toomey-Stout on the break.
Coupeville, notorious for having third quarter trouble, wasn’t feeling it Friday, instead hitting four treys.
Two came from Smith, with the second set up by Shank, who out-scrambled two RedHawks for a loose ball.
The final seconds of the third were a warning of what was to come in the fourth, as Hill, who tallied 22 on the night, slid a three-ball in right before the buzzer to break a 42-42 tie.
The Wolves hit more treys (10-9) and were far better at the free throw line (7-8 vs. 3-9), but were stung a few times by Port Townsend’s ability to create baskets off of steals and breakaways.
Wynn paced CHS with a season-high 26, while Spark (11) and Smith (10) also hit double digits.
Shank pumped in eight, while Toomey-Stout and Joey Lippo added a bucket apiece and Steven Cope worked hard on the boards.
CHS, which had a short bench with ball-hawk Hunter Downes on the injured list after hurting his hand in practice, acquitted itself nicely against a very-strong RedHawks team.
“It was the culmination of everything we’ve worked for this year as a coaching staff,” said Coupeville assistant coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh. “We were right there with them. Our guys made the choice to play as a team.
“I’d rather lose like this to a good team than beat a bad team by 40,” he added. “It’s games like this where you learn about yourself.”
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