Nick Streubel prepares to inflict his wrath on anyone foolish enough to get in his way. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
Nick Streubel played like a wild man Friday night, and I’m not just saying that because his mother gave me a free cheeseburger after the game.
The Coupeville High School junior did a bit of everything against visiting Cedarcrest. He yanked down rebounds, rolled hard to the hoop en route to what may be a career-best 13 points, even pushed the ball up-court himself several times, seriously freaking out the defender who had to scramble to try and cut off a rampaging 6-foot-4 Mack truck lineman turned impromptu point guard.
Unfortunately, not even his heroics were enough to save the Wolves against a Red Wolf squad that rained down nine three-point bombs and one rim-shaking, technical-earning slam dunk on its way to a 69-36 win.
The loss dropped Coupeville to 0-4 on the season, 0-1 in Cascade Conference play.
Cedarcrest, which had lost a string of close contests coming in to the night, jumped on the Wolves right off the opening tip, roaring out to an 11-0 lead. Carson Risner and Streubel broke the run with back-to-back rebounds converted into buckets, but that was as close as Coupeville would get all night.
With a small, but loyal band of Cedarcrest fans outshouting the scattered Wolf fan base, the visitors poured it on in the third quarter, culminating with a dunk off a fast break. The jammer hung on the rim long enough to do several chin-ups, as his buddies screamed their support, earning him a technical and seeming to light a brief fire under the Wolves, who seemed less than enthused with the display.
Coupeville closed the third on a 4-0 mini-run, capped by Streubel powering his way through a pack of Cedarcrest players in the paint for a hard fought basket and follow-up free throw.
In the fourth, the visitors called off the dogs and spent most of their time passing the ball round and round, while Streubel hammered home another pair of baskets and Drew Chan hit a trey, sparking a game-closing 9-3 run for Coupeville.
By that time, the scoreboard was malfunctioning, Wolf cheerleader Kenzie Kooch was re-winning the fan base by handing out free popcorn, and then the scoreboard turned completely off. It came back on several minutes later, after multiple failed attempts, not that anyone particularly seemed to care at that point.
Caleb Valko tossed in six points to back Streubel, with Josh Wilsey hitting for five and Chan and Risner each adding four. Aaron Curtin and Aaron Trumbull each popped for two and Morgan Payne provided tons of hustle off the bench.
In JV action, the Wolves put up a ferocious battle for a half, then suffered a complete collapse in the third quarter. After leading 22-21 with a minute to go in the first half, they eventually absorbed a 78-36 loss.
The culprit was the third quarter, when Cedarcrest drained five three-pointers and scored an astonishing 30 points in eight minutes. Packaging 13-0 and 12-0 runs around a brief five-point burst from Wolf Ryan Griggs, the Red Wolves were suddenly invincible after the halftime break.
The game was still in doubt at 32-26 two minutes into the third quarter, but Cedarcrest closed the game on a 46-10 tear.
The second half collapse negated what had been the Wolf JV squad’s best performance of the young season. Anthony Bergeron scored eight of his team-high 12 in the opening half and Coupeville took the lead on a layup from Oscar Liquidano set up by a beautiful pass from Joel Walstad.
Wiley Hesselgrave tossed in eight for the Wolves, while Griggs popped for seven and Walstad singed the nets for five. Liquidano and Payne rounded out the scoring with a bucket apiece, while Jared Helmstadter and Isaac Vargas fought hard for every loose ball.
Vargas made a particular impact, losing his glasses in a fight for a rebound. Instead of stopping, he kicked them towards the bench and charged after the play, finishing out the half without his glasses.
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