Joel Walstad fires a jumper. (Shelli Trumbull photos)
Wolf coach Anthony Smith rallies the troops.
Well-dressed Wolf JV player Grey Rische celebrates up in the video booth.
It was agony. It was ecstasy. It was horrifying. It was beautiful.
Friday night’s battle on the hardwood between the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team and visiting Lakewood was all of that, and a lot more.
By the time the Cougars held off a furious fourth quarter rally and escaped back to their bus with a much-closer-than-expected 52-47 victory, they could breathe a sigh of relief.
But also, perhaps, be troubled by how much a rapidly improving Wolf squad hailing from the Cascade Conference’s smallest 1A school refused to buckle against one of the biggest of the 2A behemoths.
A layup here and there that refused to stay in the bucket, a questionable call here and there from the usual motley crew of near-sighted refs who consistently punished the less physical team, a miracle shot here and there, and things might have been different.
But Lakewood did hit a three-pointer off an in-bounds play with less than a second on the clock to end the third quarter.
Coupeville guard Morgan Payne was somehow called for traveling, while a Cougar defender was picking him up and flipping him skyward.
And, regrettably, the Wolves heard the coming footsteps too many times, blowing several potential breakaway layups that came back to haunt them at the end.
“We need those chip shots,” Coupeville coach Anthony Smith said. “We’re almost there. We have to stay focused for all 32 minutes. All 32 minutes.”
The Wolves, now 0-3 overall, 0-2 in league play, played the fourth quarter like a team that wanted badly to earn its first conference victory since 2011.
After the aforementioned miracle trey at the end of the third, and a quick bucket to open the fourth, Lakewood sat on a 44-30 lead. It was then that the Wolves put their heads down and went to work.
Playing relentless defense and attacking the basket, Coupeville ripped off an 11-2 run, with Wiley Hesselgrave popping for five and Nick Streubel slamming home four, the second bucket coming off an electric pass from freshman Gabe Wynn.
Two free throws from Joel Walstad cut the lead to 46-41, then the Wolves forced a turnover, only to surrender the ball right back. Out of time and miracles, they could only watch as Lakewood closed out the game at the free-throw line.
Still, the rally (Coupeville outscored Lakewood 26-23 in the second half) and cool play under pressure from young players like Hesselgrave, a sophomore, bode well for the future.
The game seemed like it was headed to be a blowout in the opening moments, as Lakewood jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, eventually stretching it out to 28-15 right before the half.
A pair of free throws from Walstad and a bucket from Payne, who rammed the ball right down the throat of three defenders as he charged through the paint like a madman, cut the lead to eight at the half.
Hesselgrave paced Coupeville with a career high 16, while Payne and Walstad each chipped in with nine. Streubel and Anthony Bergeron tossed in six apiece, while Matt Shank notched a free throw.
Leave a Reply