Coupeville Sports

Jacobi Pilgrim fought hard Monday, but Coupeville’s varsity struggled against a hot-shooting Cedar Park Christian squad. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s hard to win when the other team refuses to miss a shot.

Give Cedar Park Christian credit, cause they shot the lights out Monday, rattling home buckets from every direction imaginable as they roared past the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad.

By the time the Eagles boarded the bus for the trip back to Bothell, they had an 87-44 win and Wolf coach Brad Sherman had a case of angina.

“They’re one of the harder teams to game plan for,” he said with a small shake of his head as he perused the scorebook. “They just have so many weapons that can beat you.”

The Eagles finished the night with five players having reached double digits in scoring, led by a game-high 21 from Justin Trout.

There were three-balls, yes, with CPC outgunning Coupeville 7-4 from behind the arc, but the visitors also knocked down mid-range jumpers in great, greasy gobs, and were nearly flawless on quick cuts to the hoop.

With the loss, the Wolves fall to 1-3 in North Sound Conference play, 4-8 overall, and things don’t necessarily get any easier.

Coupeville travels to Shoreline Tuesday to face league leader King’s, then gets a rematch with Cedar Park Friday in Bothell.

The Wolves wrap a busy week Saturday with a home non-conference matchup with Port Townsend.

Monday’s tilt was essentially over before the first quarter ended, as Cedar Park came out blazing, rolling to a 19-2 lead.

At that point CHS had just a Hawthorne Wolfe bucket to claim as its own, and while the basket came courtesy a nice runner in the paint, it wasn’t enough to stem the tide.

Coupeville got a small run going right before the break, with Koa Davison hitting a hook shot off of an offensive board, before Xavier Murdy got three points the hard way. Still, it trailed 21-7 at the first break.

The second quarter was the sweet spot for the Wolves, however.

Or, at least, semi-sweet.

Shots started dropping, with Mason Grove heating up from the outside, and Wolfe crashing hard to the hoop, but any real hopes of a rally were blunted by Cedar Park matching CHS shot for shot, and then some.

Grove was on fire, nailing four three-balls as he rang up 14 points in the frame, while his younger running partner slapped in seven points, but Coupeville was still outscored 26-21 in the quarter.

The Wolves pulled within 13 late in the second quarter, but Cedar Park closed the half with a fast five points, then went wild to open the third, ringing up 16 straight to put things way out of reach.

Coupeville continued to scrap down the stretch, but as long as the Eagles couldn’t miss, Wolf fans had to look to small moments to get their pleasure.

One came in the fourth, when Jacobi Pilgrim banked home a bucket while being banged in the face, then added a free throw to complete a three-point play.

Grove finished with a team-high 16 points, while Wolfe singed the nets for 12.

Both CHS sharpshooters continue to charge up the school’s career scoring chart, with Wolfe bouncing from #86 all-time to a tie with Brad Brown and Charlie Tessaro for #78.

The sophomore guard has 328 career points, while Grove, a senior, joined the 300-point club Monday, and now sits at #90 with 307 points.

Murdy pumped in five points Monday to back up the dynamic duo, while Davison (4), Pilgrim (3), Gavin Knoblich (2), and Jered Brown (2) also scored.

Rounding out the active roster were Jean Lund-Olsen, Sean Toomey-Stout, and Daniel Olson, who all saw floor time.

Toomey-Stout was hobbled all night by refs with super-quick whistles, but when the guys in the stripes let him play, the ever-springy one was his usual ferocious self on the boards.