CHIMACUM — The Chimacum boys basketball team cemented at top-four playoff seed by beating Life Christian Academy of Tacoma in a crucial Nisqually League game Friday night.
Rafael Pagasian sank 12 points to lead the Cowboys to the 44-42 victory.
The Eagles, though, sit alone in third place a half-game ahead of the Cowboys at 6-4 in league and 10-7 overall.
Chimacum is 6-5, 12-7 but has just one game left while the Eagles have two.
The teams split on the year and are headed for a seeding playoff game if they end up tied for third place.
The Cowboys finish the regular season at Vashon Island (4-7, 7-10) on Tuesday night.
“We lost to Vashon the first time at home when we didn’t play very well,” Chimacum coach Jim Eldridge said.
The Pirates, sitting in fifth place, have only one game left and can’t catch up to the Cowboys for fourth.
The fifth-place team has to play a loser-out pigtail game just to get into the playoffs.
If the Eagles split their final two games and the Cowboys beat the Pirates, the two teams will tie for third and meet Thursday night in a seeding game.
“We just have to take care of our business [by beating Vashon Island] and see what happens,” Eldridge said.
Sloppy win
Friday’s win against the Eagles wasn’t pretty.
“Both teams did not play very well,” Eldridge said. “The shots just weren’t dropping in.”
The league’s leading scorer, Life Christian’s Jordan King, ended up with just six points in the game.
And though the Chimacum defense was good, King was missing a lot of open shots.
The Eagles charged out to a 21-10 halftime lead but the Cowboys rallied back and went ahead by three points late in the game.
“Tanner Smith hit a big 3 to tie the game up in the fourth quarter,” Eldridge said.
At the end of the game, the Cowboys were ahead by three with a second left and a Life Christian player at the free-throw line with a double-bonus foul.
The player hit the first shot but then missed on purpose but Chimacum’s Derek Ajax grabbed the rebound to secure the win.
“Derek isn’t our biggest player but he’s a good rebounder, so I put him in the game,” Eldridge said.
“He did his job.”
Chimacum 44, Life Christian 42
Life Christian 8 13 9 12— 42
Chimacum 5 5 16 18— 44
Individual scoring
Life Christian (42)
King 6, Lockert 6, dAvis 13, Johansen 1, Haley 2, Kunitsa 2, Bogue 2, Roeloff 4, Comfort 6.
Chimacum (44)
Cray 8, Eldridge 6, Pagasian 12, Smith 3, Dukek 5, Ajax 4, Downs 3.
Kingston 67, Sequim 45
SEQUIM — The Buccaneers let it be known who’s in charge in the Olympic League.
The league-leading Bucs, 13-1 in league and 15-3 overall, outscored the Wolves in all four periods to run away with the win.
The Wolves are in third place, 10-4, 13-5, with two games left.
They hosted Bremerton (9-5, 10-8) on Saturday night, results not available by press time, and will conclude the regular season at home against archrival Port Angeles on Tuesday night.
The Knights are a dangerous team and could derail Sequim’s dream of winning its last two games and tying for second place with the Roughriders, 12-3, 16-3.
Sequim won the first game between the two rivals.
The Buccaneers stormed out to a 24-15 lead at the break Friday night and just kept pouring on in the second half, outscoring the Wolves 43-30.
“Kingston is a very good team and they played very well,” Sequim coach Greg Glasser said.
Kingston’s Sam Byers led everybody with 20 points while teammate K.T. Deem added 13.
Corbin Webb paced the Wolves with 13 points while Jayson Brocklesby swished in nine.
Kingston 67, Sequim 45
Kingston 13 11 20 23— 67
Sequim 7 8 13 17— 45
Individual scoring
Kingston (67)
Combs 10, Wall 8, Sander 3, Deem 13, Byers 20, Jones 4, Sundquist 1, Mays 4, Marinan 4.
Sequim (45)
Hill 7, Brocklesby 9, Guan 4, Cruz 3, Carter 7, Webb 13, Kalleppa 2.
Bremerton 66,
Port Townsend 25
BREMERTON — The Knights stayed in the playoff hunt with the victory over the Class 1A Redskins on Friday night.
Bremerton, which had a game against Sequim on Saturday night, improved to 9-5 in the Olympic League and 10-8 overall.
The Knights scored 21 points in the first quarter against Port Townsend and cruised the rest of the way.
Kyle Kelly led the Redskins with 11 points while Marshall Stevens of the Knights netted a game-high 21 points.
Bremerton 66,
Port Townsend 25
Port Townsend 10 4 8 3— 25
Bremerton 21 12 19 14— 66
Individual scoring
Port Townsend (25)
Kelly 11, S. Coppenrath 4, L. Coppenrath 1, King 2, Davis 5, LeMaster 2.
Bremerton (66)
Wales 9, Petroski 8, Lawrence 5, Flutz 4, Dixon 4, Mason 3, Stevens 21, Pounds 8, West 2.
