This time they handled the pressure, and this time they won.

The Coupeville boys basketball team kept is poise under heavy defensive pressure from host Archbishop Thomas Murphy Friday night for a 54-49 win.

The Wolves (9-3, 14-4) held onto second place in the Cascade Conference with the win. They wrap up the regular season with home games against Sultan (2-8, 3-13) Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 5:15 p.m. and against Lakewood (5-5, 6-10) Friday, Feb. 12, at 7.

Jan. 12 Coupeville wilted at home under ATM’s pressing, trapping defense. The Wolves committed a slew of turnovers, particularly in the fourth quarter when it was outscored 24-9, in the 67-55 loss.

Not this time. Coupeville had just 11 turnovers against the aggressive, quick Wildcats who like to employ an extended 1-3-1 defense. And Coupeville needed every possession to overcome a poor shooting night; the Wolves shot just 26 percent from the floor.

As Archbishop Murphy found out, one of the down sides of an aggressive defense is fouls. Coupled with the need to foul at the end of the game to stop the clock, the Wildcats ended up putting the Wolves on the free-throw line 38 times. Coupeville hit 23 of those shots, but could have made it easier on itself if it had been more accurate at the end.

The Wolves sank just 10 of 17 tries in the fourth quarter and allowed the Wildcats to stay close.

Murphy was 9-15 at the line for the game.

With the Wolves up 51-49 in the final minute, Jason Bagby’s block stopped an Archbishop Murphy threat and the Wildcats were forced to foul JD Wilcox. Wilcox connected on only one of two shots; that gave ATM the opportunity to tie the game in one possession. However, the Wildcats missed a potential game-tying three with five seconds left and fouled Bagby.

Bagby iced the game by hitting both free throws.

Hunter Hammer controlled the inside against the smaller Wildcats with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Bagby netted five points and grabbed eight rebounds. Tyler King had seven points and boards. Wilcox finished with seven points, Ian Smith five, Chad Brookhouse five and Tim Walstad one.

Coupeville coach Randy King said, “We played great defense and did a nice job on the defensive boards.” The Wolves snared 43 rebounds, 16 on offense, while limiting ATM (5-5, 7-9) to just five offensive rebounds.