Randy King leaned expressionless with his arms crossed against a shower wall in the Coupeville locker room.

Dead silence among his players, the head coach voiced disappointment in regards to what could have been Tuesday night.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we would have scored if we would have got that board,” said King, referring to two missed defensive rebounds in the final six seconds.

Instead, the clock ran out and Coupeville suffered a 62-60 home loss to the Northwest A/B’s top team, Friday Harbor. With seven league games to go the defeat could prove costly for the Wolves, who are 4-3 in the Northwest A/B — three games behind the Wolverines, 7-0.

“That’s a big, big win for them,” King said. “If we could have got them that would have put us right in striking distance.”

Coupeville certainly had its chances to upend Friday Harbor.

With six ticks left on the clock the Wolverines’ Eric Rothlisberger stepped to the line for a pair of one-and-one free throws. His first shot clanked off the iron, bounced around and was recovered by Friday Harbor’s Chad Stoddard. Fouled with two seconds left, Stoddard also went to the free throw line and missed his second free throw. Again, the rebound escaped Coupeville’s grasp as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“We got them to miss just like we wanted to, we got a chance to rebound, we just didn’t grab it,” King said.

Tied 60-60 with 36 seconds to go, CHS had two opportunities to go ahead. Sophomore guard James Smith, however, missed a jump shot with 25 seconds left and another three-point attempt with nine seconds to go.

Although disappointed, King was pleased with the Wolves’ effort.

“We did a lot of great things though, a lot of nice plays, a lot of competing, guys laying it on the line,” he said. “We had some sophomores trying to grow some hair on their chests tonight.”

Coupeville had as large a lead as 11 in the first quarter as it came out on fire. Behind an aggressive defense, the Wolves hit 10-of-14 shots from the field, for a 22-15 lead after one.

“We had a good plan for them,” King said. “We took them out of their offense early, but they caught on.”

CHS held a 34-30 lead at halftime, before the Wolverines took their first lead of the game with 6:06 to go in the third quarter.

Senior Mike Bagby, who was honored before the game for scoring 1,000 career points for Coupeville High, had a team-high 16 points. Six-foot-six, sophomore post Brian Miller had a nice game down low with 14 points, while sophomores Kramer O’Keefe and James Smith both had 10.

The Wolves are tied with La Conner (4-3) for second place in league. CHS plays its next game at 4 p.m., today, Jan. 21 at Mount Vernon High School against Mount Vernon Christian.

Friday Harbor 15 15 16 16 — 62

Coupeville 22 12 12 14 — 60

Scoring: Coupeville-Bagby 16, Miller 14, O’Keefe 10, Smith 10, Marti 5, Larson 3, Duke 2. Friday Harbor-Hamilton 20, Hart 14, Stoddard 13, Gerhardstin 9, Rothlisberger 6.