Coupeville Sports

   Brian Shank threw down eight points Tuesday in a hard-fought battle at Concrete. (John Fisken photo)

One bucket.

Unable to come up with a game-changing one, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad returned from Concrete bearing another ding on its shield.

Outlasted in a tough-nosed, low-scoring non-conference game Tuesday night, the Wolves fell 33-31, dropping their record to 1-8 on the season.

With Christmas break hitting, Coupeville is off until Dec. 30, when it travels to Orcas Island.

While negatives took their toll Tuesday — the Wolves were just 2 of 9 at the free throw line and tallied their second fewest-points of the season — CHS was consistent.

Unlike a lot of games this season, there was no big drop-off in one specific quarter to point at when scanning the post-game stats.

Coupeville dropped in eight in the first, five in the second, seven in the third, then rallied to its best showing with 11 in the final eight-minute stretch.

Hunter Smith tossed in 10 to pace the Wolves, while Brian Shank knocked down eight.

Gabe Wynn (7), Ethan Spark (3), Joey Lippo (2) and Cameron Toomey-Stout (1) rounded out the scoring attack, while Ariah Bepler and Hunter Downes also saw floor time.

Concrete (1-4 after the win) was led by James Schoolland, who went for a game-high 16.

Coupeville had three players knock down a three-ball, with Wynn hitting one in the first quarter and Shank and Spark nailing second-half treys.