By Pierre LaBossiere and Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend got off to a 24-5 start and cruised to a 64-41 win in an important league win at home against Coupeville, setting up a game likely for the Olympic League 1A boys basketball championship later this week with Klahowya.
“It was senior night, the kids were pretty fired up,” said coach Tom Webster. The Redhawks finished the first quarter ahead 26-10 and built up a 50-24 lead after three quarters.
Kaiden Parcher led the Redhawks with 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Noa Montoya scored 10 in the first quarter en route to a 15-point game to go along with six rebounds. Jackson Foster also had nine points and had his usual monster game on the boards with 18 rebounds.
Robert Hammett added 10 rebounds and six points, while Jacob Boucher had six points and six assists.
Port Townsend still has a shot at the Olympic League 1A title. The Redhawks first play at Chimacum (0-7, 0-11) at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday. If Port Townsend (5-2, 9-8) wins that game, they will play Klahowya (6-1, 10-7) on the road Saturday night with the league championship and a top district playoff seed at stake. Port Townsend and Klahowya have split two games so far this season.
Port Townsend 64, Coupeville 41
Coupeville 10 9 5 17 — 41
PT 26 11 13 14 — 64
Coupeville (41) — Smith 15, Spark 5, Lippo 7, Downs 4, Grove 6, Rockwell 2.
Port Townsend (64) — Parcher 22, Montoya 15, Foster 9, Boucher 6, Hammett 5, Spencer 4, Lake 3.
Port Angeles 100, Kingston 46
KINGSTON — Eight Roughriders scored nine or more points as Port Angeles eclipsed the century mark for likely the first time in school history in an Olympic League 2A win over the Buccaneers on Friday.
“According to a couple of people, that’s the first time in school history a team has scored 100,” Ulin said. “I asked Scooter [Chapman] after the game and he said it was the first time that he can remember.”
The win sets up a senior night contest at home Tuesday with enormous postseason implications.
Port Angeles (9-1, 13-5), hosts North Kitsap (9-1, 15-4) with a chance to clinch a share of the Olympic League title with a win. The Riders fell 61-51 to the Vikings on the road in the league opener on Dec. 8.
A rematch with surging Olympic (8-2, 14-4) also looms in Bremerton on Thursday. Port Angeles won the first game between those teams 50-39 earlier this month.
The Olympic League champion gets a first-round bye in the district tournament, and will host a second-round game.
The second-place team doesn’t get a bye, but does get a first-round home game. Third place begins the playoffs on the road.
Ulin was pleased with his team’s ability to share the ball against the Buccaneers.
“Eight guys with nine or more points. I don’t know if I, coaching or playing, has ever seen that much balance,” he said. That was exceptional. We caused 36 turnovers and a lot of those led to layups and fast-break points. And we had 28 assists, so the ball was moving crisply and we were sharing the ball.”
Ulin said the game was physical and the free throw totals back him up.
“The big thing that sticks out for me was we were 29 for 33 from the free-throw line,” Ulin said. “That’s something we’ve been working on. Eighty-eight percent is fantastic. And they shot 21 free throws, so it was called close both ways.
Port Angeles connected on 6 of 14 3-point attempts. The biggest damage came inside.
“We had 45 points inside the paint,” he said. “We were really being aggressive, attacking the rim and getting the ball inside.”
Ulin expects an incredible game Tuesday night, maybe the biggest on the Peninsula in quite some time.
“We have a huge game on Tuesday, it should be an awesome atmosphere with senior night and first place on the line on our home court,” he said.
“It was good to see the focus and intensity was there for a full 32 minutes [against Kingston], we will have to be that dialed in against North.”
Port Angeles 100, Kingston 46
PA 28 30 26 16— 100
Kingston 11 16 13 6— 46
Port Angeles (100) — Johnson 9, McGuffey 9, Joslin 10, Schmidt 18, Benedict 13, Nickerson 2, Edwards 18, Clark 10, Kathol 9, Wood, Long, Borde.
Hoquiam 69, Forks 66
FORKS — The Spartans had their six-game winning streak snapped, giving up 29 points to the Grizzlies’ Matt Brown in a home loss.
Forks went into halftime with a 10-point lead at 36-26, but they gave up 43 second-half points to Hoquaim. Brown did much of his damage in the third quarter, said coach Rick Gooding.
“We have to do a better job of identifying guys who are producing,” Gooding said.
Gooding said this loss might not be a bad thing for the Spartans, who hadn’t lost since late December and are still tied for first place in the Evergreen 1A League. Friday’s loss was their first in league play.
“Losses before district aren’t the worst thing in the world. This is a pretty resilient group. They get smacked in the face, they’re going to turn around and play hard,” Gooding said.
Seth Johnson led the Spartans with 22 points, while Braton Armas scored 13 and Cole Baysinger 12.
Forks (5-1, 13-3) plays at fellow league-leader Montesano (5-1, 14-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a game that will likely be for the Evergreen 1A championship. The Spartans edged the Bulldogs 49-46 at home earlier this month.
Hoquiam 69, Forks 66
Hoquiam 14 12 20 23 — 69
Forks 15 21 15 15 — 66
Hoquiam (69) — Brown 29, James 14, Quintella 14, Dayton 8, Eccles 4.
Forks (66) — Johnson 22, Armas 13, Baysinger 12, Archibald 6, Prose 6, Reaume 4, Jacoby 3.
Neah Bay 79, Chief Kitsap 51 Taholah 58, Neah Bay 46
POULSBO — Keith Johnson Jr. scored 29 and Sean Bitegeko 25 as the Red Devils bounced back from a loss the night before in a 79-51 win over Chief Kitsap, sealing the North Olympic 1B League title.
Jay Brunk also added 11 for the Red Devils in Friday’s game, who had 47 points at halftime before letting up on the gas a bit in the second half.
The Red Devils had their eight-game winning streak snapped in a 58-46 nonleague road loss to a good 13-3 Taholah team on Thursday. Neah Bay was tied with the Chitwins at 29-29 at the half, but only managed 17 points in the second half.
Captain Claplanhoo and Johnson led the Red Devils with 13 points each, while Bitegeko scored 12.
Neah Bay (7-0, 10-8) next hosts Clallam Bay (1-5, 2-12) at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday in a league game.
Neah Bay 79, Chief Kitsap 51
NB 18 29 12 20 — 79
CK 15 6 19 11 — 51
Neah Bay (79) — Johnson 29, Bitegeko 25, Brunk 11, Claplanhoo 7, Halttunen 5, Kallappa 2.
Chief Kitsap (51) — Sigo 12, McKelvy 12, Thomas 9, Gwinn 7, Andrews 6, Wion-Rathbun 3, Miller 2.
Crescent 62, Clallam Bay 29
JOYCE — KC Spencer scored 25 points on five 3-pointers and Robert Cox added 14 in a 62-29 win over Clallam Bay.
The Bruins were missing their leading scorer Ryan McCoy in Friday’s game.
“We were able to get in a rhythm early on offense and slowly increased intensity on defense to pull away from the shorthanded Bruins,” said Crescent coach Chris Ferrier.
“KC Spencer was able to knock down shots, and Robert Cox had his best game of the season on Senior Night. Kylan Scheid was huge inside [scoring eight points], pulling down a bunch of rebounds and exhibiting nice touch around the rim,” Ferrier said.
Cox and Scheid each had seven rebounds.
Crescent and Clallam Bay have split two games this season. They play a third rubber match game on Feb. 2.
Crescent (1-6, 6-11) first plays at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at Chief Kitsap Academy. Clallam Bay (1-5, 2-12) plays at Neah Bay at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Crescent 62, Clallam Bay 29
CB 0 18 5 6 — 29
Crescent13 13 23 13 — 62
Crescent (62) — Spencer 25, Cox 14, Scheid 8, Bergstrom 5, Leonard 2, Emery 2, Ownes 2, Buchanan 2, Mattix 2.
Forks’ Seth Johnson is fouled on his way to the hoop Friday night in Forks by Hoquiam’s Matt Brown. The Spartans lost their first league game of the season 69-66 to the Grizzlies. Looking on is Forks’ Cort Prose (13). (Lonnie Archibald/for Peninsula Daily News)
