Nick Streubel (back row, far right) lays down the law: “I am the destroyer of worlds! I will swallow your puny shot attempts and devour your very soul!!” (Shelli Trumbull photos)
You won the game. We have better fans.
These are the moments that freak out a basketball player.
One moment you have the ball, and then the next, you’re scrambling backwards, trying in vain to get in the way of Carson Risner, and, deep down, wishing you hadn’t.
Because when the offensive lineman turned power forward son of former Wolf great Jennie “I will crush your soul!!” Cross and the grandson of Murph “I will burn your village to the ground!!” Cross gets rumbling in the open court, he is a freight train ready to inflict some heavy damage. Best thing to do, pretend you trip and hope to heck he doesn’t step on your face as he goes up for the basket.
While the final score Friday night wasn’t what Coupeville boys’ basketball fans wanted (the Wolves fell 57-37 to visiting South Whidbey), there were moments. Moments that put the roar back in the CHS gym where it belongs.
Risner’s steal and pile-driver charge to pay dirt, part of an eight-point performance on his mom’s birthday, was one of those.
Then there was Nick Streubel’s continued emergence as the Wolves’ go-to offensive guy. The junior banged away in the paint for rebounds, hit a soft little jumper or two when he wandered away from the rim, and then pulled off a neat move, where he picked the pocket of a guy under the Wolf basket, spun the defender around like a top and then dropped in a layup to cap his team-high 11-point night.
It wasn’t all slick moves for Streubel, however, as he laid down two ferocious blocks that rattled the teeth of the would-be-shooters. The second one, when he charged up the court after a fleeing Falcon and caught him from behind, was about one ripped arm away from being grounds for an assault case and pleased the Wolf fans quite a bit.
A game that stayed close for most of the first half took a turn for the worst when South Whidbey drained the clock down to its very last tick, hitting a soul-crushing three-point bomb at the first half buzzer. A 20-8 third quarter and the sight of Wolf guard Ben Etzell’s eye swelling up like a knocked-out boxer’s after he took an elbow to the head put a damper on things, but the Wolves refused to bow down.
With number one fan Danny Savalza rockin’ the dress and headgear at court-side (he later surrendered his Bow Down hat to injured cheerleader Kenzie Kooch), Coupeville put together its best run in the fourth, ringing up a 14-6 tear to close things out.
Risner and Streubel were everywhere, Drew Chan and Aaron Curtin added to the world’s largest collection of floor burns as they chased loose balls like maniacs and Anthony Bergeron, making his varsity debut, swished a jumper and then fed Aaron Trumbull on another basket.
Toss in Josh Wilsey swishing a beautiful trey under pressure and Caleb Valko suddenly channeling his inner Kobe Bryant as he executed a note-perfect move in the second quarter, spinning, hopping and then blowing past his defender for a bucket, and there were moments.
Enough to keep hope alive.
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