The Wolverines opened the season with one in the bag and their trigger set on another.

But the Falcons of South Whidbey, trailing 19-9 at the end of the opening period, lit up the scoreboard with 31 second-quarter points and kept Friday Harbor at arm’s length after the break to claim a 69-60 victory Saturday in Turnbull Gym.

The Falcons, a Division 2A team, tossed in eight three-pointers — 11 for the game — in turning a 10-point deficit into a 40-33 lead at intermission.

The Wolverines, repeatedly stung by the Falcons full-court press, couldn’t bridge the gap. Senior Preston Ukra sank a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter to shave the deficit down to 5, but that’s as close as Friday Harbor would come to knotting the score.

Despite the outcome, Head Coach Rod Turnbull said that’s exactly the type of contest the young Friday Harbor squad needed. Lessons learned against a fast-paced and tenacious South Whidbey team should pay dividends down the road, Turnbull said.

“The only thing I feel bad about is that it’s a game we could’ve won,” he said. “Not one that we should’ve won, but could’ve. We did a lot of good things out there, just not enough of them.”

Parker Lawson scored 19 points to lead the Wolverines, junior Alex Jangard had nine and Roy Taylor added eight. Senior Mike Ausilio tossed in seven points and Ukra and Tanner Buck had six points apiece.

On Friday, the Wolverines opened the season with a runaway 59-19 victory at home over the Bush High School Blazers.

The Wolverines led 28-6 at the break, upped the advantage to 32-8 midway through the third quarter, and cruised the rest of the way.

Ukra put up 16 points to lead all scorers, Lawson added 11 and Buck and Jangard each had seven.

Next: The Wolverines are at La Conner on Friday; tipoff is 5 p.m. They travel Saturday to University Prep for a non-conference contest; tipoff is 12:30 p.m.