One unsteady quarter has stung the Coupeville High School boys basketball team in many of its losses this season, and the trend continued at Chimacum Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Coupeville scored only six points in the second quarter and couldn’t recover in a 67-59 loss to the league-leading Cowboys.

In other Olympic League 1A action Tuesday, Port Townsend upset Klahowya 51-48, which was good news for Chimacum and bad news for Coupeville.

The Eagles (3-2, 4-11) dropped out of a tie for first with Chimacum (4-1, 5-9), and Port Townsend (2-3, 2-13) moved a game ahead of Coupeville (1-4, 5-10) in the battle for third place and the final district tournament berth.

Four regular season games remain. Coupeville meets Klahowya twice, including the next game in Silverdale at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30.

The Wolves would like to make up for kicking away the first game with the Eagles, a 57-55 loss Dec. 12. In that contest, Coupeville “did everything but win,” according to coach Anthony Smith.

Next week, the Wolves go to Port Townsend at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, and then host Chimacum at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6.

Although the Olympic League teams are deep into the season, who will win the conference and who will qualify for the postseason is still a blur because of the balance of talent.

Coupeville is far from out of it, Smith said. Any team can beat the other on any given night, and that is something “we need to put in our kids’ heads.”

Coupeville will have to make the push for the playoffs with a depleted roster. Starter Aaron Trumbull, Dalton Martin, Gabe Wynn and Jared Helmstadter all missed the Chimacum game because of injuries.

Also, starter Joel Walstad injured an ankle in the third quarter of the Chimacum game and his status for Friday is uncertain.

In Tuesday’s loss, the Wolves trailed by only four, 20-16, after the first quarter.

In the second period, the Wolves “started missing shots and stopped attacking the basket,” Smith said.

Coupeville scored just six points and trailed 35-21 at halftime.

The deficit grew to 22 in the third period, and the Cowboys led 53-38 heading into the fourth quarter.

Then, even without the services of two starers, the Wolves worked their way back into the game.

Coupeville cut the deficit to five late in the game, Smith said, but his club ran out of time and “played the foul game at the end.”

Coupeville missed, literally, a chance to draw closer in the final period because of foul-shooting woes. The Cowboy bench was whistled for two technical fouls, but Coupeville was unable to take advantage when it missed the four free throws.

For the game, Coupeville was off mark on 13 of its 30 foul shots.

Summarizing the game, Smith said, “The effort was there, we just need to play four quarters. We can definitely play with them.”

With guards Walstad, Martin and Wynn missing, Risen Johnson played extended minutes and scored a career high 21 points.

Johnson is improving each game, Smith said, and added, “The game is slowing down for him.”

Wiley Hesselgrave scored 13 points, Aaron Curtin nine, Walstad seven, Ryan Griggs six, Matt Shank two and C.J. Smith one.