Gabe Carter drives to the hoop past Klahowya defenders for a score Tuesday evening. Photo by Jim Heintz
By Michael Dashiell
Sequim Gazette
If the Wolves’ game last week against Klahowya winds up being their final home game of the season, their seniors got a perfect send-off.
Sequim hit five 3-pointers in a 19-4 spurt just before halftime to pull away from Klahowya in a 70-53 victory on Jan. 25.
Jayson Brocklesby hit for 19 points while Gabe Carter added 14 points and Nick Camporini and Corbin Webb had 11 points each.
“We didn’t get too rushed,” Sequim coach Greg Glasser said. “We were really patient about making that extra pass.”
With a 20-19 lead and five and a-half minutes to go in the second quarter, the Wolves’ Brocklesby grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a put-back, the start of a run that put the game out of reach.
Evan Hill had two of Sequim’s five 3-point bombs in the second frame.
The final triple of the half — one just before the intermission buzzer — came from senior Kenny Meier, who joined Camporini in what may be the duo’s final home game.
The two have played together since suiting up for Sequim Middle School’s seventh-grade squad.
“(That) was the start of our friendship,” Camporini said. “I couldn’t ask for a better friend. I was crying before the game.”
Glasser recalls seeing Meier at open gyms as early as 6 a.m. on school days, playing pick-up hoops with some of the high school staffers.
“I think that made him into the player he is now,” Glasser said of Meier. “He’s also a great locker-room guy. There are so many things we’re going to miss.”
Camporini leads the team in three-point shots made, despite an unorthodox shooting motion he’s had for years.
“If your shot doesn’t have proper form, you have to spend hours in the gym shooting,” Glasser said. “(Nick) has done that, a lot of work.”
Fans, friends and teammates honored the pair before and after the game.
“I’m glad we got to say goodbye to these guys at home,” Glasser said. “It’s exciting to send seniors off like that.”
There is, however, plenty of basketball to be played. If the Wolves can hold on to the No. 2 seed in the Olympic League, Sequim would host a district seeding game on Thursday, Feb. 10, against either the South Puget Sound’s No. 3 team or Seamount League’s No. 2 squad, and then play at North Kitsap on Saturday, Feb. 12.
With a No. 3 Olympic League spot, Sequim would play on the road, likely in Port Angeles or at Olympic, against a Seamount or South Puget Sound runner-up.
Either way, Sequim would be guaranteed a district playoff spot.
If the Wolves drop to the No. 4 seed, they’d host a loser-out playoff game at home at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, against the Seamount League’s No. 4 team.
Glasser said a key for his team is limiting turnovers.
“We have to take care of the ball,” Glasser said.
Sequim closes out the season with a pair of tough road contests, playing at league-leading Kingston on Feb. 4 and at Port Angeles on Feb. 8.
Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.