By Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — The power remained on but Port Townsend still shot the lights out in an 87-38 rivalry win over Chimacum.
Junior Noa Montoya poured in 30 points, connecting on 6 of 7 3-pointers, to lead the way for a Redhawks team that shot 36 of 57 from the floor (63 percent) in the Friday night contest.
“You never know how these games are going to go, so we treated it like the toughest game we’d have all year,” Port Townsend coach Tom Webster said. “They were playing man and we ran about five or six sets right out of the gate that produced baskets, so we were executing well against that man-to-man defense.”
The Redhawks sank eight of their first nine shots to open the contest. Montoya opened with a 3 from the top of the key, and sank two more long-distance shots in that stretch as Port Townsend pushed out to a 15-3 lead midway through the first.
Webster said earlier in the week how important getting an early basket is for Montoya’s confidence as he learns how to be Port Townsend’s primary scoring option this season.
“You saw us play out at Forks [a 60-42 loss last Friday] and he had an off night. He was short on 3s, he was forcing it a little bit, but tonight it was all in the rhythm of the offense,” Webster said. “He didn’t have to go looking for his shots, they came to him.”
Much of that Webster said, was due to how crisply Port Townsend executed offensively.
“Our execution offensively was real good and our defense in the first half was pretty good,” Webster said of the Redhawks’ 58-14 halftime lead.
“We didn’t turn it over much and we ran our sets well. We’ve been looking for that guy to get us started and Kavi Baabahar stepped up and ran the offense really well.”
Baabahar had six assists and zero turnovers on the night.
“That was his best and smoothest game at point guard,” Webster said.
The team’s defense was solid as well.
When you hold them to 14 points [at halftime] you have to say that’s a really good number, but we didn’t execute some of our stuff either. Purser is hard to guard, he’s quick. They have some big guys inside that are a challenge.
“We were putting a little pressure on them full court and they beat that and made us pay, but we got them sped up a little bit in the halfcourt. It wasn’t a great press, but it had some benefits.”
Montoya’s shooting was infectious as four other Port Townsend players hit 3s and nine players scored.
Cole Crawford was effective offensively and defensively and had 18 points, five rebounds and four steals, Jaden Watkins added 11 points and seven assists, Kuba Krol had nine points and five assists and Kesem Coggins splashed two treys for the Redhawks.
“When you shoot the ball that well good things are going to happen,” Webster said. ” We hit a lot of threes tonight and had a lot of guys contributing.”
Chimacum coach Mark Bennett said it would have been tough to beat any team shooting the way Port Townsend shot.
“They shot very well tonight,” Bennett said of the Redhawks. “They came out on fire and it was tough for us to keep pace.”
Henry Brebberman stood out for the Cowboys with 16 points, but was hit with a technical foul for arguing a foul call late in the game.
“Henry played well for us, but we can’t lose him like that. We have a seven-player rotation and he’s a big part of it,” Bennett said.
“I’m proud of our guys. They hustled until the end.”
Chimacum (0-2, 0-5) will visit Forks on Tuesday.
Webster was pleased with how well his team focused and executed.
“If we play even half that well against a lot of teams we will be in a good position,” Webster said.
Port Townsend (1-1, 4-3) visits Coupeville on Thursday.
Port Townsend 87, Chimacum 38
Chimacum 5 9 12 12— 38
Port Townsend 33 25 18 11— 87
Chimacum (38) — Brebberman 16, Williamson 8, Diehl 6, Purser 6, Dotson 3, Smith.
Port Townsend (87) — Montoya 30, Crawford 18, Watkins 11, Krol 9, Winegar 7, Coggins 6, Petta 2, Harris 2, Bahabar 2.
