Coupeville Sports

Nathan Coxsey, seen here during football season, is now rampaging on the hardwood. (Photo courtesy Erin Coxsey)

The basket got stingy at just the wrong moment.

Up by six points on visiting Eastside Prep late in the fourth quarter Saturday, the Coupeville High School JV boys’ basketball squad suddenly ran out of buckets when it needed them most, letting the Eagles slip away with a 33-29 victory.

The non-conference loss drops the Wolves to 1-2 on the season, with another home bout, this one against East Jefferson, set for Tuesday night.

After a back-and-forth first half, Coupeville seemingly seized control of the game after the halftime break.

Trailing 14-10 heading into the third quarter, the Wolves opened with an 8-0 surge, thanks to four different players putting their names in the scorebook.

Nathan Coxsey drained a pair of free throws, Josh Stockdale went coast-to-coast for a layup, Chris Zenz put a rebound back up and in, and Carson Grove swooped past the defense for a sweet runner, and CHS was living large.

Eventually holding on to a 20-16 lead at the end of three, Coupeville continued to clamp down on defense, led by a fired-up Khanor Jump, who cleaned the boards with a fury.

Two more buckets from Stockdale and one from Coxsey staked the Wolves to a 26-20 advantage, and Eastside Prep was beginning to get desperate.

Unfortunately for the local fans, the off-Islanders suddenly found their groove, hitting a pair of three-balls, after missing approximately 11,407 prior long-range heaves, and closed the game on a 13-3 tear.

Down the stretch, CHS got free throws from Jump and Liam Lawson, but couldn’t get a field goal to drop across the game’s final four minutes and change.

The furious finish capped a game which started as a fairly low-scoring, defense-orientated affair.

Eastside Prep clung to a 5-4 lead after one quarter of action, with both of Coupeville’s buckets coming from Coxsey and set up by strong passes off the fingertips of Carson Grove.

Coxsey and Stockdale eventually pushed CHS ahead, but the visitors closed the half with a 7-2 mini-run to reclaim the lead and set up the second-half theatrics.

Ten Wolves saw floor time, with six of them scoring, led by Coxsey, who dropped in a season-high 12 points.

Stockdale (8), Grove (4), Jump (2), Zenz (2), and Lawson (1) also scored, with Brian Thompson, Trent Thule, Ayden Warren, and Jaden Flores Garcia rounding out the active roster.