Wolf senior Brian Shank soared for five Friday as the Wolf boys won their second straight league game. (John Fisken photo)
Every point counts.
Give Coupeville High School boys’ basketball manager Axel Partida a huge assist Friday night.
He caught Chimacum in a uniform violation, giving Wolf senior Gabe Wynn two free throws thanks to a technical foul called on the host Cowboys.
Wynn drilled both of them — part of his team’s superb 13 of 15 work at the charity stripe — and that helped CHS hold off a late rally to escape with a 56-53 win.
The second straight Olympic League victory for the Wolves, it lifts them to 3-5 and pulls them within a half-game of Chimacum in the race for second place.
League champ Port Townsend can’t be caught at 7-0, but the Cowboys (3-4) are getting an unexpected challenge late from Coupeville.
Admittedly, it’s still a long-shot.
The Wolves, 3-13 overall, need to upend Port Townsend in their league finale Feb. 4 and have Chimacum stumble twice in the final week against Klahowya (1-5) to finish in second place.
If Coupeville and Chimacum finish with the same record, the Cowboys own the tiebreaker, having taken two of three games played between the teams this season.
The win, however, did strengthen Coupeville’s hold on third-place, which they need to claim the league’s final playoff berth.
The Wolves are a game up on Klahowya and own the tiebreaker, so the ONLY way they miss the postseason is if they lose to Port Townsend and the Eagles win all three of their league games next week.
OK, now that we’re all confused, let’s jump back to Friday night’s game.
Coupeville rode another red-hot performance from junior Hunter Smith, who, a game after scoring 34 in a win over Klahowya, torched the nets at Chimacum for 26.
He did most of his damage in the second quarter, raining down 14 as the Wolves blew open a tied game, turning a 13-13 stalemate after one into a 31-21 lead at the break.
Chimacum chipped away at the deficit in the second half, putting together 20-18 and 12-7 quarters, but the Wolves held fast and held on when it mattered.
Ethan Spark added 11 and Wynn knocked down 10 to back Smith up, while Brian Shank popped for five and Joey Lippo and Steven Cope each scored two points.
Cameron Toomey-Stout rounded out a very short bench, chipping in with his customary Energizer Rabbit hustle, ball-hawking defense and impeccable hair.
JV falls in second half:
A close game turned a lot less close after halftime, as the Wolf young guns saw a seven-point deficit turn into a 73-36 rout.
It was just 34-27 at the break, but the Cowboys turned up the offense after the break, with a 23-4 fourth quarter run a real killer.
Mason Grove paced the Wolves with 13, including three treys, while Sean Toomey-Stout played through a lingering shoulder injury to knock down 11.
Ulrik Wells (4), Kyle Rockwell (3), Ariah Bepler (3), Aram Leyva (1) and Tucker Hall (1) also scored, while Jacobi Pacquette-Pilgrim, Koa Davison, Gavin Knoblich, Nikolai Lyngra and Elliott Johnson saw floor time.
Coupeville Sports 