Wolves (l to r) Ben Olsen, Nick Etzell and Luke Merriman apply defensive pressure. (Joe Lippo photos)
Cameron Toomey-Stout goes up for two.
Contributed by Joe Lippo
The Coupeville Middle School basketball team packed into the school bus at noon Wednesday and headed south to face off with Everett-based Northshore.
There was barely enough room for the players, let alone fans as we packed into the tiny gym.
Anyone who complains about the size of the Coupeville gym should be sentenced to this gym for a week.
The eighth graders would be first and the seriously undermanned JV squad took the floor with only one player on the bench as a sub.
Determined performances by Kyle Rockwell and JT Quinn plus physical play from James Vidoni were outmatched by the Northshore opponents, and the two-quarter game ended 22-6.
Then it was the eighth grade varsity’s turn.
It didn’t look good out of the gate, with Northshore running up 16 points before Joey Lippo hit a jumper to put Coupeville on the board.
This was followed by points from Hunter Downes, Nick Etzell, Luke Merriman and Ben Olson, but the closest the Wolves would get would be 18-8 during a 56-26 loss.
That didn’t keep them from playing hard.
Cameron Toomey-Stout scored four points with the first two fingers of his shooting hand taped together. Merriman led the team with nine points after recovering from an injury.
All of the players played solid, physical defense. But that didn’t change the fact that the Coupeville players were exhausted at the end of the game.
As an aside, somebody needs to capture this injury bug that plagues Coupeville sports and give it a good thrashing.
“We have good talent and good attitudes, and we are willing to work hard and are progressing,” said CMS eighth grade coach Bob Martin. “Our bench is short with six varsity and six JV players.”
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