UPDATE 9:10 p.m. Feb. 13

Port Townsend’s season ended Feb. 13 with a 53-48 loss to visiting Seattle Christian in a district loser-out game.

The Redhawks started with an 11-0 run and led 26-19 at half. The game got tight in the second half when Seattle Christian started on an 8-0 run. PT led 45-41 with 2:57 to play but the Warriors went on a 9-0 run to effectively ice the game.

Townsend had two more shots at the lead. Trailing 47-45 and with possession, PT missed a trey with just more than 1 minute remaining. Seattle Christian answered quickly with a trey to make it 50-45 with 59 seconds left. The Redhawks missed a field goal attempt, and after a missed Warrior free throw, Detrius Kelsall drained a trey to pull PT to within 50-48 with 40 seconds. The Redhawks then forced a jump ball on the inbounds play, but the possession error was in SC’s favor. Townsend fouled on the ensuing possession, and SC missed the front end of a one-and-one charity shot. Townsend missed a field goal, SC rebounded, was fouled and made 1 free throw to make it 51-48. PT missed a field goal; SC rebounded, was fouled, and made 2 free throws with 3.6 seconds left to make the final 53-48.

In the second half, the Warriors made 7 treys (5 by senior Taggart Anderson) and were 9/13 from the free throw line, while PT made 4 treys (2 by senior Jacob Ralls), and were 0/5 from the free throw line.

ORIGINAL STORY Feb. 10

The Cowboys won a league championship and local bragging rights, and are joined in the post season by Port Townsend, while the Quilcene basketball season is complete. Here is the wrap as of Feb. 8:

CHIMACUM & PORT TOWNSEND

The Cowboys and Redhawks did what they were supposed to do ramping up to the regular season finale Feb. 4, win their other games.

Chimacum edged Klahowya 61-55 and routed Coupeville 68-38, with 18 points from James Porter, 16 from Chris Bainbridge and 11 from Quinn Dowling.

The Redhawks did the same, scoring a season-high in an 80-36 win over Coupeville (leading 18-4 after 1 quarter), followed by a 56-42 win over Klahowya.

SCORING vs Coupeville: Jacob Ralls 22, Detrius Kelsall 19, Patrick Charlton 8, Berkley Hill 8, Kaiden Parcher 6.

SCORING vs Klahowya: Seren Danes 3, Ralls 15, Kelsall 12, Hill 8, Charlton 2, Parcher 16.

Saturday night before a standing room–only crowd at Bruce Blevins Gym (including PTHS pep band and cheerleaders), Townsend only led CHS twice: 10-8 with 6:52 left before halftime, and 35-34 with 5:30 left in the game. The score was tied four times. Otherwise, Chimacum had the edge.

Townsend struggled against PT’s 2/3 zone, and had little success driving the lane. But the Cowboys also had mixed results from outside, and were unable to pound the ball inside consistently, even with a height advantage.

After sophomore Kaiden Parcher gave PT a 35-34 lead, James Porter scored for Chimacum, and on their ensuing possession, junior Lane Dotson battled for an offensive rebound and put the ball back up for a 38-35 lead at the 4:56 mark.

Turnovers and missed shots followed by both teams. At the 1:08 mark, CHS senior Matt Koenig nailed a trey to make it 41-35. PT sophomore Detrius Kelsall was fouled taking a trey, and made 2 of the free throws to pull within 41-37 with 29 seconds left. Sam Golden made a field goal for Chimacum and Kelsall drained a trey from the deep corner to make it 43-40 with 9.8 seconds left.

PT almost snared a turnover when Chimacum made a bad pass that appeared to go off a Cowboy, but the referees called it Cowboy ball, and CHS ran out the clock.

“I had a good look, and I thought that ball was off us. It should have been [PT] ball,” coach Eldridge said. “We got a break there.”

“Our kids played so hard,” Eldridge noted. “Port Townsend has some good young players and made some big shots. They’ll have their time coming but we took it from them this year.”

Chimacum has won the Widge Black Memorial traveling trophy in consecutive years, and four of the last five seasons. The trophy series remembering a dedicated youth sports coach and booster started in the 1998-99 season; PT leads the series 15-13.

PTHS coach Tom Webster noted that PT held Chimacum to 42 points, which is good, but scored 20 under their own season average. In terms of free throws, PT made 10 of 17 and Chimacum made 5 of 9.

“I’m not going to pull a Cam Newton," Webster said Feb. 8. "Chimacum came into our place, a packed house with great atmosphere. We were favored to win, and they won. Their defense is one of the best zones I’ve seen in a lot of years. They are playing hard for coach Eldridge, and that's admirable. I'm going to give them credit. We just needed to find 3 more points."

SCORING, CHS: James Porter 13, Lane Dotson 10, Matt Koenig 8, Chris Bainbridge 7, Matt Torres 3, Sam Golden 2. PT: Detrius Kelsall 16, Jacob Ralls 10, Seren Dances 6, Kaiden Parcher 3, David Sua 3, Berkley Hill 2.

The Cowboys (7-2, 9-11) finished the regular season on a 6-game winning streak, and 9 of 11 games. Last year, Chimacum went 0-2 at the district tourney. Despite losing that team’s 3 leading scorers to graduation, the Cowboys are back in the same spot.

“If we play solid defense and know who the 3-point shooters are, we’ll be all right,” Eldridge said of the playoffs.

QUILCENE: WAIT UNTIL NEXT SEASON

The Quilcene Rangers (1-9 league, 6-12 overall) ended the season with 3 games in 5 days, falling 51-43 to Mt. Rainier Lutheran Feb. 2, breaking a 6-game losing streak with a 40-28 win over Mary M Knight on Feb. 4, and losing 60-32 to Chief Kitsap Feb. 6 in the season finale.

Coach Rich French felt the Mt. Rainier game was winnable, but his team didn’t play well on defense and failed to cause turnovers that might have led to some easy buckets. They tallied all but 2 points from half-court sets.

SCORING: Juan Rogers 21, Jarod Smith 16, Acea Such 4, Ben Bruner 2.

“We played a better overall game against Mary M Knight,” said French. “We subbed early and a few of the newer guys got some points.” French said the opponent was a young and inexperienced team like his, and he was happy to see Quil take charge.

The season finale was an added game against Chief Kitsap. “I saw our first in-game progress in weeks,” said French. “We broke their press and beat a half-court trap.” He felt that Hayes Beathard, his tallest player, did good work on the boards and showed more athleticism.

French said that notching 6 wins with an inexperienced squad, when last year’s veteran team reached only 7 victories, is a good sign for next year. “I expect we’ll recognize defenses better,” he stated. “Everyone should be back and we may have enough players to field a JV team.” And he feels they will be more physically prepared for the type of play they faced this season. French has set high goals for his team, and is expecting to reach both district and state next year.