UPDATED: Boys' basketball: PT ends season with win at Chimacum, Cowboys still win league title

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UPDATED 10 p.m. Feb. 9

Port Townsend upset Chimacum 59-50 with junior Jacob Ralls bucketing 24 points. The Cowboys (6-3 league, 7-12 overall), however, still win the Olympic League 1A division championship while the Redhawks’ (3-6, 3-16) season ends on a winning note, but the season does end. Playing before a full house at the CHS gym, the Redhawks took an early lead and never looked back. Halftime score was 34-27. Two of PT's three victories this season came over Chimacum.

At district, Coupeville plays Feb. 14 at Cascade Christian and the winner plays Chimacum at 6 p.m. Feb. 17 at Sumner High School. That game’s winner plays Feb. 19 for the district title.

The other side of the bracket has Charles Wright Academy playing at Klahowya on Feb. 13, with the winner playing Vashon Island Feb. 17 at Sumner.

UPDATED 9:30 a.m. Feb. 8

Losses by Chimacum and Port Townsend on Friday, Feb. 6 in Olympic League 1A action mean the Redhawks are out of the playoff picture, while the Cowboys need to top PT on Monday to secure the league title.

The game is 5:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 at CHS. Chimacum needs to win to secure first place while fourth-place PT cannot make the playoffs, but could knock Chimacum into a tie with Klahowya. The Cowboys, however, won the season series against Klahowya 2-1 so would still receive the first-place seed into the postseason.

Friday night, Klahowya (5-3) edged Port Townsend (2-6) 41-40 while Coupeville (3-5) defeated Chimacum (6-2) 72-68.

UPDATED 11 p.m. Feb. 3

Chimacum is eyeing a league championship, Port Townsend is in the running for post-season play while in Quilcene, the boys' basketball team needs some help to make the post-season. Here is the sports wrap as of Tuesday morning, Feb. 3:

PT & CHIMACUM

Both Chimacum and Port Townsend earned crucial league wins on Jan. 27, as needed to keep their playoff aspirations intact.

Townsend won at Klahowya, 51-48 in overtime. Ninth-grader Kaiden Parcher took an inbounds pass from the sidelines with .8 of a second to play, and banked an 8-foot shot from the middle of the key to send the game into overtime at 44-44 and in OT, he made a field goal to force a 48-48 tie. Frosh Detrius Kelsall made a free throw to put PT up 49-48 with 2.4 seconds remaining, and junior Patrick Charlton denied Klahowya a potential game-winning shot by stealing the ensuing inbounds pass and scoring at the buzzer for the 51-48 final.

STATS: Kaiden Parcher 14 points, 4 rebounds; Chris Adkins 11P, 2RB, 5 assists; David Sua 7P, 3RB; Jacob Ralls 6P, 4RB, 2A; Patrick Charlton 5P, 3 steals; Berkley Hill 4P, 2RB, 3A, 2S; Detrius Kelsall 4P, 6RB.

Chimacum handled Coupeville 67-58, although coach Jim Eldridge was not happy that his team let a 22-point lead mostly slip away in the fourth quarter.

"It was a physical game," Eldridge noted. "It's not a foul unless the ref calls it. You've got to be mentally tough and play though the non-calls."

SCORING: Orion Weller 16, John Carthum 15, Brendon Naylor 12, Matt Koenig 7, Myles Hundley 5, Victor Hitt 3, Chris Bainbridge 3, James Porter 2, Lane Dotson 2.


COWBOYS AT REDHAWKS

The PTHS gym was mostly full for a Jan. 30 meeting between Chimacum and PT. The Cowboys won by 2 points on Dec. 17, the first of three league meetings. This second meeting was also close, and in the end, the Redhawks could not match up with the Cowboys' senior post players, 6-foot-4 Orion Weller and 6-foot-5 Brendon Naylor.

PT led 22-21 at halftime, had a 6-point lead about half-way through the third quarter and were up 36-34 when Weller completed a 3-point play for a 37-36 CHS lead early in the fourth quarter; PT never regained the advantage.

Naylor scored his team's next 4 points, then Weller hit for 2 and a 43-36 lead. PT senior guard Chris Adkins, who was active all night, drained a trey and frosh Detrius Kelsall completed a 3-point play to bring PT within 43-42.

After a series of turnovers and missed shots by both squads, Naylor scored 4 points, Weller grabbed 2 defensive rebounds and hit a pair of free throws as CHS built a 49-42 lead with 51 seconds to play.

Kelsall nailed a trey to make it 49-45 with 29 seconds remaining, and Adkins hit a trey with 9 seconds left, 50-48 with 6.7 seconds left. Chimacum’s Chris Bainbridge hit 2 of 4 free throws down the stretch (one before, one after Kelsall’s trey), and Kelsall’s last-second trey missed as Chimacum got the 51-48 league victory.

SCORING: C - Naylor 18, Weller 17, Koenig 5, Bainbridge 5, Carthum 4, Hitt 2. PT - Adkins 22 points, 4 rebounds; Kelsall 10P, 3 RB; Charlton 9P, 8RB; Parcher 5P, 4RB; Ezra Easley 2P, 1RB.

After the game, Eldridge said Chimacum needs to be patient on offense and capitalize on Naylor and Weller's inside presence.

“We need good entry passes. I don’t think anyone in the league can match up with our big guys,” Eldridge said. “They are our bread and butter. We’ve got to get them the ball.”

PTHS coach Tom Webster said his team showed a lot of effort and for the most part, played well defensively.

"There was a stretch when it was 42-43 and we went about five possessions without scoring," Webster said. "The difference with Chimacum, when they need to score they go with their 6-4 guys underneath the basket and when we need to score, we can't necessarily do that."

Chimacum's 51-48 win also means the Widge Black Memorial traveling trophy returns to CHS for a year. PT has a 15-12 edge in the trophy series, started in the 1998-99 season to honor a man who did a lot for youth athletics in Jefferson County.

Chimacum and PT meet a third time, 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9 at CHS in the regular season finale: The trophy is not at stake.

Townsend needed to defeat Coupeville Tuesday to stay ahead of the Wolves for the league's third and final post-season slot. Defeating Klahowya here at 7 p.m. Friday could push PT toward second place.

"We've got to continue to do things a little bit better," Webster noted. "It all comes down to these last few games."

Tuesday night in league action, Chimacum dumped Klahowya 50-36 while Coupeville edged Port Townsend 60-57. The Cowboys now have a two-game lead over Klahowya for first place, while Coupeville and PT are tied for the third and last playoff spot.

The Redhawks (2-5, 2-15) host Klahowya (4-3, 5-12) at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 (Senior Night), followed by a 5:15 p.m. game Monday, Feb. 9 at Chimacum (6-1, 7-9).

This week brings the third time the respective league foes have played, which coach Eldridge said is a challenge unique to this new Olympic League 1A division.

"We're shooting for the number one seed and this third time around, when you play the same teams, there's not a lot of secrets left," Eldridge said.

Chimacum plays at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at Coupeville. Regular season action ends at 5:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 at home against PT.


QUILCENE

Coach Mark Thompson is coaching his last varsity basketball games for Quilcene; he has announced his coaching resignation at season's end.

Thompson, a high school teacher, is returning as varsity softball coach. He has been the varsity boys' basketball coach for six seasons with two tri-district tourney appearances.

The season has been difficult, Thompson said. Senior Triston Williams has been a steady standout, but as the only public school in the 12-team SeaTac 1B League, basketball competition in particular is not easy. The absence of a youth basketball program is obvious in the fundamentals that most players start high school ball with, or without, Thompson observed.

"The lack of a youth program has materialized," said the coach who years ago organized a Quilcene youth basketball program. "You need a youth program to have the ball skills to be successful at the varsity level, bottom line."

The same problem translates to other sports, he noted, so his goal is to strengthen the youth softball program to help keep the high school softball program strong.

Quilcene lost 61-32 to Shorewood Christian on Jan. 27, when the visiting Saints had two turnovers and two missed field goals while building a 46-21 halftime lead.

The Rangers lost 57-20 to Mt. Rainier Lutheran on Jan 30; the Ranger JV boys fell 35-31.

Monday, Quilcene defeated Puget Sound Adventist (0-8, 1-9) 47-40, snapping an 8-game losing skid.

Depending on the outcome of games this week, Quilcene could tie for the eighth and final playoff slot into the league tourney that begins Feb. 10.

Quilcene's  (2-9, 7-13) regular season ended Tuesday with a 68-25 loss to Mt. Rainier Lutheran (8-1, 13-5). Sea Tac League play ends Feb. 7.