Coupeville Sports

Aiden O’Neill left it all on the floor Tuesday in a rivalry rumble. (Jackie Saia photo)

Who shrank the rim?

Suffering through its worst collective shooting night of the season Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball team ultimately had no answers for a feisty Friday Harbor crew.

With shot after shot rimming out and skipping away, the Wolves were unable to push their winning streak to three games, instead falling 46-34.

The loss, coming in the first home game of 2026, knocks CHS to 0-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 3-6 overall, with a trip Friday to La Conner offering a chance for a bounce-back.

Friday Harbor entered the night with an 0-10 record, though two of those defeats were by just a single bucket.

Regardless of their record, the Wolverines always come hard with a physical, hustling style of play, and Tuesday was no different.

The visitors bolted out to a quick 7-0 lead, as Coupeville couldn’t get a shot to go down for the first four-and-a-half minutes.

The Wolves finally broke through on a three-ball off of the fingertips of Chase Anderson but still trailed 11-5 at the first break and looked out of sync.

Things seemed to get better — a LOT better — in the second quarter, as senior gunner Aiden O’Neill ripped off three consecutive treys, before Anderson pushed CHS into the lead for the first time at 17-15 thanks to yet another three-ball.

Coupeville netted five shots from beyond the arc in the first half but didn’t get its first old-fashioned field goal until Anderson powered his way through the paint for a three-point play the hard way with just nine seconds left in the half.

Friday Harbor responded immediately, however, banking in a runner right before the halftime buzzer to carry a 21-20 lead into the break.

Whatever positive mojo the Wolves had going in the waning moments of the first half evaporated fairly quickly in the third quarter, with another string of shots clanking off the rim or popping back out after starting to go down.

The visitors surged to a 30-22 lead, Coupeville clawed back to within 33-28 at the end of the third after key buckets from Carson Grove and Davin Houston, then Friday Harbor pulled away for good early in the final frame.

A Wolverine three-ball that banked in off the glass a millisecond before a 24-second shot clock violation was a particularly nasty killer, blunting any lingering hopes of a comeback for the hometown hardwood heroes.

Coupeville’s scoring was limited to just four players — its smallest total of the season — with Anderson leading the way with 18 while O’Neill knocked down 11.

Houston (3) and Grove (2) wrapped things up, with Liam Blas, Riley Lawless, Camden Glover, and Malachi Somes rounding out the rotation.