Shaking off a stretch of sluggish play, the Coupeville High School boys basketball team whipped visiting Chimacum 67-43 Wednesday, Jan. 10.

That came after a lackluster performance in a 55-27 loss the previous evening in Port Townsend. The PT game was an early showdown for first place in the Olympic League. Coupeville beat the Redhawks 44-41 Dec. 12 and expected another tight contest, but the game was a blowout after the first period.

Then the Wolves allowed winless Chimacum to hang around for three quarters before escaping its doldrums and blitzing the Cowboys in the final period.

Port Townsend (4-1, 7-6) tops the conference standings, followed by Coupeville (2-1, 4-8), Klahowya (1-1, 4-7) and Chimacum (0-4, 0-8).

The Wolves play a non-league game at Sultan (2-10) at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, and then go to Klahowya at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16.

Port Townsend 55, Coupeville 27

The Wolves got 8 points from Hunter Smith and led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter. From there is was all Port Townsend.

The Redhawks led 26-16 at halftime and continued to pull away, outscoring the Wolves 19-11 in the third period. In a fitting ending to a long evening, Coupeville failed to scored in the fourth quarter.

Only four Wolves scored: Smith, 13; Joey Lippo, 7; Ethan Spark, 5; and Hunter Downes, 2.

Eight Redhawks scored, three in double figures: Kaiden Parcher, 16; Jackson Foster, 16; and Noa Montoya, 10.

Port Townsend also won the JV game, 56-52, despite 33 points and seven three-pointers from Mason Grove.

Coupeville 67, Chimacum 43

The Wolves led by only 6, 43-37, with 42 seconds remaining in the third period and then finished the game on a 24-6 run to put away the pesky Cowboys.

It looked like Coupeville was going to run away early, leading 13-3 midway through the first. Chimacum cut the lead to 17-13 by the end of the quarter and then eventually tied the game at 17 a minute into the second period.

The Wolves then scored 7 points in 24 seconds — Lippo off an offensive rebound, followed by two buckets by Smith off a pair of steals.

That helped Coupeville go into the locker room with a 30-23 lead.

Ethan Spark’s three-pointer pushed the advantage to 14, 38-24, in the third period before the Cowboys whittled their way back into the game.

Chimacum, however, had no answer for the Wolves’ fourth-quarter barrage.

Coupeville coach Brad Sherman was frustrated with his team’s effort on the boards in the first half, allowing the Cowboys a handful of second-chance points.

The Wolves cleaned up that problem in the second half.

“I am especially pleased with how we played in the fourth quarter,” Sherman said.

Sherman also lauded the effort of Dane Lucero, who provided “some great minutes off the bench.”

Smith scored a game-high 25 points. Spark had 17, Downes 8, Cameron Toomey-Stout 7, Lucero 4, Lippo 4 and Kyle Rockwell 2.

Downes gathered 12 rebounds.

The Wolves came up with 20 steals in the game, led by Smith with eight and Spark with foiur.

Jonah Diehl scored 20 points for the Cowboys, who went with only five players until the fourth quarter.

Eleven Wolves, led by Daniel Olsen with 11 points, scored in Coupeville’s 47-22 win in the junior varsity game.