Gavin Knoblich and the Coupeville High School varsity boys hoops squad host a playoff game Saturday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
They’re coming home.
A narrow loss at Sultan Tuesday night in the regular-season finale means the Coupeville High School boys varsity basketball squad will open the playoffs on their own court.
Despite 23 points from senior sniper Mason Grove, the Wolves fell 66-59 to the Turks in a game which decided the #4 and #5 playoff seeds from the North Sound Conference.
Coupeville finished league play at 2-7, a game off of Sultan, which swept the season series from the Wolves to go 3-6.
As a #4 seed, CHS would have advanced straight away to the double-elimination portion of the district playoffs.
Instead, as a #5 seed, the Wolves, who sit at 6-12 overall, will host Mount Baker, the #4 seed from the Northwest Conference, in a loser-out play-in game.
That rumble goes down Saturday, February 8, with tip-off set for 7 PM.
Mount Baker is 5-14 with one regular-season game left to play, but the Mountaineers play in a 1A/2A/3A league, which tends to skew records a bit.
Win Saturday, and the Wolves move on to play games Feb. 10 and 12.
To see the playoff bracket, pop over to:
http://www.nscathletics.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=3213&sport=3
Coming off an emotional Senior Night win over Granite Falls in which it punched its playoff ticket, Coupeville was looking for a bit of revenge against Sultan.
The first time around, the Wolves led for much of the game, before falling by five.
This time out, CHS stayed close, but couldn’t get over the hump.
Grove nailed the first two of his game-high seven three-balls in the opening quarter, while fellow backcourt gunner Hawthorne Wolfe added four points, but Coupeville trailed 17-13 at the first break.
From there, Sultan, which got double-digits scoring from three players, stretched the lead to 32-26 at the half, clung to a 52-47 advantage after three quarters, and held on for the crucial win.
While the Turks got 42 points combined from the trio of Austin Wood (16), Tyler Sargent (14), and Jeremy John (12), Coupeville’s big three virtually matched them.
Grove, who hit at least one three-ball in every quarter as he put up 23, was backed by sophomores Xavier Murdy (9) and Wolfe (8).
Sean Toomey-Stout (4), Gavin Knoblich (4), Koa Davison (4), Jered Brown (3), Jacobi Pilgrim (2), and Ulrik Wells (2) also scored, as every Wolf to hit the floor put the ball through the hoop.
It was a milestone night for Grove, as the senior cracked the 400-point club.
Heading into his final playoff run, he has 405 points, putting him #57 on the CHS boys hoops career scoring list, which stretches across 103 seasons.
Wolfe is just a three-ball away from joining his older teammate in the club, and his 397 points has him sitting #59 all-time.
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