PORT TOWNSEND — Two down and two to go for the Neah Bay boys basketball team after punishing host Port Townsend 80-41 in the finale of the annual Crush in the Slush tournament at Port Townsend High School.
With the win, the Red Devils (5-0) are off to a solid start in the first two of four games against some of the larger North Olympic Peninsula schools.
They opened the tournament by defeating Chimacum 97-70 on Friday.
Next up for Neah Bay, the top-ranked team in Class 1B, will be arguably the toughest team on its regular-season schedule, Class 2A Sequim (5-2) at home on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
The Red Devils will wrap the nonleague North Olympic Peninsula portion of their schedule with Forks on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Against Port Townsend on Saturday, the Red Devils proved to be too fast, too deep and too experienced for the Redhawks.
Trailing 13-3 in the early going, Port Townsend coach Tom Webster loudly implored his team to slow down offensively.
It didn’t help. Not much did, as Neah Bay closed the quarter on a 10-0 run to lead 25-5 after one period.
The first quarter did see a scary moment when Red Devils point guard Abraham Venske drove the lane and was hammered by Redhawks guard Jacob Ralls.
Venske fell hard to the floor and lay facedown for a time before being helped from the floor.
After icing down his hip, Venske returned to the floor in the second quarter and eventually led all scorers with 20 points.
Ryan Moss added 17 for Neah Bay (5-0) and Kenrick Doherty Jr. had 12.
“We played really well,” Red Devils coach Stan Claplanhoo said.
“We really didn’t have to use our press in the first half and in the second half we went into a zone press in the half court and got some steals and transition points that way.”
Port Townsend senior Chris Adkins led the Redhawks with 13 points, all coming in the second half.
The Redhawks (0-1, 0-7) will seek their first win at home against Coupeville on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
Neah Bay 80, Port Townsend 41
Neah Bay 25 16 21 18— 80
Port Townsend 5 11 11 14— 41
Individual scoring
Neah Bay (80)
Venske 20, Moss 17, Doherty 12, McGimpsey 10, Reamer 7, Munyagi 4, Dulik 4, Tejano 4, Claplanhoo 2.
Port Townsend (41)
Adkins 13, Charlton 8, Dances 6, Kelsall 5, Ralls 3, Easley 2, Sua 2, Parcher 2.
Friday Harbor 39, Chimacum 36
PORT TOWNSEND — The Cowboys nearly overcame a bad first half, getting a steal and the ball down three points in the final seconds, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Chimacum’s John Carthum buried a 3-pointer with 23.7 seconds to go to pull the Cowboys within 37-34, and teammate Chris Bainbridge picked up a steal on the Wolverines’ inbounds pass.
But instead of working the ball back outside to set up a 3-point shot or calling a timeout to draw up a final play, Chimacum senior Myles Hundley missed a jumper and Friday Harbor’s Peter Strasser hit free throws to seal the win.
“Looking back on it, yeah, I should have called a timeout when Chris stole the ball so we could set something up,” Cowboys coach Jim Eldridge said.
Chimacum trailed 13-5 after the first period and 25-13 at halftime.
The Cowboys had trouble stopping Strasser, who had 14 points at the break and 22 in the game.
“We looked pretty sluggish in warm-ups too,” Eldridge said after Saturday’s 9 a.m. game.
“I don’t think it was the early game; we’ve started slow in a number of games recently.
“I think I have to change how we warm up so they can get a little sweat going.”
The Cowboys worked themselves back into the game by holding Strasser to two points and the Wolverines to just five points in the third period to trail 30-23 entering the final frame.
A jumper by Carthum had Chimacum within one, down 32-31 with 2:57 to play, before Eli Cooper-West knocked down his only basket of the game, a 3-pointer, to give Friday Harbor a 35-31 lead with 2:39 to play.
Chimacum had only three team fouls in the final minute and could have started fouling the Wolverines to eventually send them to the line and extend the contest, but with the amount of time remaining in a two-possession game, Eldridge decided to go for the steal.
The strategy nearly worked. The Cowboys did force the turnover and had the chance for a tying possession before the rushed shot.
“We really struggled on the inside today and if any of our post guys could have hit a couple of those open looks we had, well, we’d be having a more fun conversation,” Eldridge said.
Carthum led the Cowboys (1-7) with 11 points. Brendon Naylor added nine.
Chimacum visits Kingston (3-5) on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
Friday Harbor 39, Chimacum 36
Friday Harbor 13 12 5 9— 39
Chimacum 5 8 10 13— 36
Individual scoring
Friday Harbor (39)
Strasser 22, Jangard 7, Cooper-West 3, Gustafson 2, Revercomb 2.
Chimacum (36)
Carthum 11, Naylor 9, Weller 6, Koenig 3, Dowling 3, Hundley 2, Dotson 2.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.
