Coupeville Sports

Ben Etzell looks for some room to operate as he comes off a screen set by Caleb Valko. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Nick Streubel pump fakes a Falcon off his feet.

The assist of the night goes to Josh Wilsey.

The Coupeville High School senior, sidelined for the rest of the season, drove from Langley back to CHS before his team’s game Friday night to retrieve the shoes Nick Streubel accidentally left behind when the Wolves boarded the bus.

Reunited with his high tops before the game, Streubel, the Wolves’ leading scorer this season, sparked a surge early in the third quarter that put a scare into South Whidbey.

First he rattled off five straight points, coming off of two put-backs on rebounds he ripped out of Falcon players’ hands and a free-throw, then the 6-foot-4, 270-pound man-mountain flew into the second row of the seats chasing a loose ball, scattering band stands in his wake.

Somewhere out in the lobby, where the SWHS band was taking a momentary break, a tuba player breathed a huge sigh of relief that he would not be drinking his next meal out of a straw.

Down just 25-21 after Streubel’s rampage, the Wolves were looking good and looking like contenders to pull out their first Cascade Conference win of the season. It wasn’t to be, however, as their shooting touch evaporated almost immediately after that, and a 17-5 South Whidbey surge all but sealed the deal on a 54-32 win.

By the time the game was into the fourth quarter, everything was going wacky. Twin technicals were issued after a brief dust-up, Aaron Trumbull, who led the Wolves with 11 points, fouled out and Ben Etzell achieved the dubious honor of being called for a foul despite being the third and final person to hit the floor in a chain-reaction play.

In that play, perhaps the capper to a season of god-awful calls against the Wolves, Coupeville big man Caleb Valko, who had the ball, got sent crashing to the floor. As he went down, he inadvertently knocked down a Falcon player behind him, who twisted and fell into Etzell, taking him down as well.

The ref then called a foul on the man at the bottom of the pile and managed to barely keep from blushing while doing it.

The poor finish was a reversal of the start, when Coupeville, sparked by a ton of hustle from first-time starter Morgan Payne, battled South Whidbey to a standstill. Trumbull rumbled for six of his points in the opening quarter, throwing a rebound back up and in with a second to play to cut the lead to 10-9.

The Falcons immediately jumped on the Wolves with back-to-back three-pointers to open the second quarter, but Etzell brought Coupeville back, threading passes to Payne and Streubel for quick buckets.

Etzell threw down 11 points in support of Trumbull, including a sweet line-drive three-point bomb near the end of the game, while Streubel hammered home seven, Payne had his bucket and Valko knocked down a free throw.

Coupeville continued to fight through a rash of illness, as Carson Risner was home sick and Aaron Curtin saw limited playing time.