Malachi Somes, ready to defend his basket. (Jackie Saia photo)
Every bruise a lesson learned.
And lesson #1? Don’t get too close to Chase Anderson if you’re wearing another team’s uniform.
Crashing out of bounds Saturday, the Coupeville High School senior had the presence of mind to bounce the basketball off of his defender, creating a positive turnover for the Wolves.
That Napavine rival however discovered that Anderson is a feisty one, as instead of lightly chucking the ball, he wound up and delivered a 97 mile-per-hour fastball off the dude’s chest from about two inches away.
The ensuing sound echoed through a cold, sparsely populated weekend afternoon gym like a gunshot, and was undoubtedly the highlight of the day for the CHS boys’ varsity hoops team.
You take your small bits of joy where you can, so treasure the look on the Napavine player’s face, a mix of shock and awe as Anderson stood his ground, giving him serious side-eye.
Otherwise, most of the day went the way the visitors wanted it to, as they pulled away late to make things seem more lopsided than they really were in a 62-33 win.
The non-conference loss, coming about 17 hours after a huge victory over league rival Darrington, drops Coupeville to 5-8 on the season.
But it also gives the Wolves a good measuring stick.
Facing off with a tall, quick, often brutally efficient collection of Napavine players battle hardened by life in the rugged Central 2B League is ultimately worth far more to CHS than scheduling a cupcake foe it would run ragged.
Brad Sherman’s squad already played, and beat, Napavine league mate Morton-White Pass earlier this season, and these are the type of teams the Wolves would have to get through to make a postseason run.
While the Wolves couldn’t quite hold down Tiger guard Eric Bullock, who rained down a game-high 22 points while making the most electrifying passes the CHS gym has witnessed this season, they did have their moments.
Coupeville carved an 18-point deficit down to single digits, put together a really strong defensive effort in the middle two quarters, and didn’t back away from playing rough-and-tumble with a physical Napavine squad.
The game was a nailbiter for the first three-plus minutes, with the Tigers holding a slim 7-4 lead after Wolf big man Camden Glover crashed hard to the hoop for a bucket off of a rebound and set-up pass from Aiden O’Neill.
Then things fell apart for Coupeville, as Napavine jumped on them for a game-busting 15-0 tear which carried over through the start of the second quarter.
Trailing 15-4 after one, the Wolves fell behind 22-4 and were desperately looking for a spark.
It arrived in the form of one Liam Blas, who normally makes his living cleaning the boards for CHS, but got out ahead on the break and converted a layup off a long pass launched by Anderson.
That bucket not only stopped the bleeding for a Wolf team struggling through a cold shooting performance, but it seemed to re-center Coupeville.
CHS closed out the half on a 17-7 surge, with Anderson pouring in 11 points while being frequently knocked to the floor, and we suddenly had a game at the half, with Napavine up just 29-21.
That set off the Tiger coach, a wiry, tattooed fellow who radiates fiery intensity, especially when he leans in extra-close to his players during a timeout to tell them in no uncertain terms that “You are all soft!!!”
Like Pillsbury Dough Boy soft, was the implication.
Like pull your head out of your rear, or you’re going to walk back to Napavine and not get to catch a ride in the school’s vans, soft.
Imagine if Napavine was losing at that point? We might have had our first on-court stroke of the season.
Coupeville hoops guru Brad Sherman, an island of calm in a frazzled hoops world. (Melanie Wolfe photo)
Apparently thinking of their coach’s well-being, the visitors got progressively crustier from that moment on, stretching the lead back out to 17 before Anderson hit a pullup jumper and a pair of free throws to get Coupeville within 44-31 as the third quarter ended.
Of the fourth quarter, we shall not say too much, as it’s best forgotten.
Persistent foul trouble dogged the Wolves, while Napavine, leaving most of its starters on the floor until the end, while continuing to employ a stifling full-court press, busted out an 18-2 run to end the day.
The lone highlight for Coupeville in the final frame came when Glover banked in a bucket to give him exactly 250 points for his varsity hoops career.
A night after burning Darrington for 36 points in three quarters of action, Anderson paced the Wolves with 20, while Glover (9), Blas (2), and O’Neill (2) also etched their names in the scorebook.
Davin Houston, Riley Lawless, Easton Green, Carson Grove, and Malachi Somes also saw floor time for Coupeville.
Coupeville Sports 