Coupeville Sports

   Jacobi Pacquette-Pilgrim was one of seven Wolves who attended a summer hoops camp in Bellingham. (John Fisken photo)

Put in the work in summer for success in winter.

That’s the mantra for the Coupeville High School boys basketball squad, which took the court under first-year head coach Brad Sherman at a hoops camp this weekend.

Getting maximum effort out of the seven players who attended, the Wolves played eight games in two days in Bellingham, before injuries curtailed efforts to keep playing Sunday.

Sherman, the former CHS star who is returning to lead the program he once played for, was joined by Hunter Downes, Kyle Rockwell, Ariah Bepler, Mason Grove, Jacobi Pacquette-Pilgrim, Ethan Spark and Jered Brown.

“The kids showed a tremendous amount of heart this weekend,” Sherman said.”Our final two games today (about 70 minutes of basketball), we played with five guys against schools who had a bench full of subs.

“Our guys never quit and never stopped pushing when it would have been easy to.”

Coupeville’s never-say-die attitude drew praise from other coaches and bystanders.

“Highlight of the weekend for me — against likely the best team at the camp in a lopsided game, a collegiate-level official had been sitting watching our team and made a point of telling me that several people had commented on our teams sportsmanship and attitude in the face of adversity,” Sherman said.

“There is no greater compliment and it made me proud as a coach, and should make our players and parents feel proud as well.”