The Coupeville High School boys basketball team eked out a 69-68 win over visiting Mount Vernon Christian Saturday, Jan. 9.

The Wolves held an eight-point lead early in the fourth quarter only to see the Hurricanes wrestle away the lead with a 10-0 run.

That gave Mount Vernon Christian a 55-53 advantage. From that point it was a back and forth affair, with buckets by Wiley Hesselgrave, Risen Johnson and Jordan Ford countering Hurricane hoops.

With just over a minute left, Hunter Smith knocked down two free throws to give the Wolves a 67-66 lead.

The Coupeville defense produced a stop and Risen Johnson dropped in a difficult shot to put the Wolves up 69-66.

MVC then missed two three-pointers in an attempt to tie, settling for a two-point putback on the second miss for its final points.

While the Hurricanes (2-7) put together a fourth-quarter run to get back in the game, Coupeville finished the first half with its own burst (a 14-3 run) to erase a seven-point Mount Vernon Christian lead.

Three points each by Dante Mitchell and Gabe Wynn and a pair of three-balls (both in the final 20 seconds) by J.J. Johnson fueled the Wolves’ surge.

Johnson topped Coupeville with 15 points, Ford had 12 and Hesselgrave and Johnson 11 each.

Smith finished with seven, Wynn six, Mitchell five and Ryan Griggs two.

Coupeville (5-6) hosts Stevenson (2-6) in a non-league game at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15.