PORT TOWNSEND — Neah Bay’s boys basketball team has a different focus this year with an abundance of shooters capable of hitting jump shots and a point guard in Abraham Venske with the vision to find those open shooters for good looks at the basket.
So many shooters, in fact, that the Red Devils may not need to play much of the hounding, aggressive style of defense they employed last year for this year’s team to finish as well or better than the third-place state trophy earned by last year’s squad.
Neah Bay put up 97 points in a 97-70 win over Chimacum at the Crush in the Slush at Port Townsend High School.
The Red Devils rolled from the start in Friday’s win, pushing to a 15-2 lead after 3:20 of the first quarter and blitzing the Cowboys with a 35-point second quarter.
Chimacum had pulled within 23-12 on a score by Brendon Naylor to open the second, but Venske and junior shooting guard Ryan Moss turned the game into a layup line, going on a 15-0 run all by themselves for a 38-12 Neah Bay lead with 5 minutes until halftime.
Moss hit for a game-high 28 points and Venske, last year’s All-Peninsula MVP, had 22 points and five blocked shots.
“Abraham is so skilled a ballhandler and so good at penetrating through a defense, that when teams collapse on him it’s trouble because he can find our open shooters like Ryan,” Neah Bay coach Stan Claplanhoo said.
“And we have so many guys that can knock down an open shot that we can kind of come at you in waves, even when our main lineup is on the bench. There really isn’t much drop off.”
Neah Bay kept it going in the early portion of the third quarter, pushing to a 68-29 lead, its largest of the game, halfway through the period.
“I really like how we are playing so far,” Claplanhoo said.
“The kids are really sharing the basketball well, embracing the concept of playing as a team, and being unselfish and finding the open player.
“I think that’s a big reason we are scoring so much and playing so well.”
The lone negative for the Red Devils on the day was potentially a big one, a wrist injury suffered by senior Chris Martinez when he was fouled and landed headfirst into the padded gym wall behind the hoop.
Posts Orion Weller and Naylor led the Cowboys with 20 and 12 points, respectively.
Neah Bay 97, Chimacum 70
Neah Bay 23 35 21 18— 97
Chimacum 10 12 21 27— 70
Individual scoring
Neah Bay (97)
Moss 28, Venske 22, Claplanhoo 13, Martinez 8, Doherty 8, Munyagi 6, Reamer 4, McGimpsey 2, Dulik 2, Johnson 2, Tejano 2.
Chimacum (70)
Weller 20, Naylor 12, Koenig 10, Carthym 9, Hitt 6, Porter 4, Dowling 4, Torres 3, Hundley 2.
Friday Harbor 54, Port Townsend 38
PORT TOWNSEND — Second- and fourth-quarter offensive slowdowns and a game-long inability to bring down rebounds doomed host Port Townsend on Friday at the Crush in the Slush.
The Redhawks went with a youthful starting five that included four underclassmen, and scrapped back and forth with the Wolverines in a first quarter that saw three ties and seven lead changes.
Port Townsend scored the final four points of the period for a 13-12 lead before enduring a 7-minute, 39-second scoring drought to trail 20-15 at halftime.
“We had some issues with some matchups and we got killed on the boards,” Redhawks coach Tom Webster said.
“It’s never a good sign when you are getting beat for second-chance points and fouling them [while shooting].
“If we foul them, we have to make it count, and we didn’t do that.”
Friday Harbor couldn’t seal the deal in the third quarter, despite holding a lead as high as 12 with 6:07 to play in the period.
Jacob Ralls, who was celebrating a birthday, scored 11 of his 16 points in the third, including back-to-back 3-point shots, allowing Port Townsend to hang around and trail 40-33 entering the final period.
Another Ralls 3 got the Redhawks within six, down 44-38 with 5:41 to go. Port Townsend could pull no closer, however, and the Wolverines closed out the game on a 10-0 run.
Friday Harbor had balanced scoring with Peter Strasser leading with 14 despite foul trouble, 6-foot-6 post Kyle Jangard dropping in 13 and John Gustafson hitting for 12.
David Sua and Patrick Charlton added six apiece for Port Townsend (0-6).
Senior guard Chris Adkins did not play in the game despite suiting up for the contest. Webster said his absence was a coaches decision.
Friday Harbor 54, Port Townsend 38
Nooksack Valley 12 8 20 14— 54
Port Townsend 13 2 18 5— 38
Individual scoring
Nooksack Valley (54)
Strasser 14, Jangard 13, Gustafson 13, Lawson 8, Sonjaya 1, Cooper-West 1.
Port Townsend (38)
Ralls 16, Charlson 6, Sua 6, Parcher 4, Kelsall 3, Dances 3.
________
Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.
