Captain Teuscher and Co. have been scrappy all season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Not all losses are created equal.
Both of the Coupeville Middle School boys basketball teams fell to visiting Northshore Christian Academy Wednesday, but the games couldn’t have been more different.
How the day played out:
Varsity:
This one stings.
But, if the right lessons are learned, it can still be a great building block for a squad of Wolf players with a very-bright future.
In control of the game heading into the fourth quarter, Coupeville had Northshore on the ropes, only to see its offense stall out at the worst possible time.
Outscored 18-5 across the final seven minutes, the Wolves, who led by as many as 12 points in the second half, fell 45-40.
The loss drops Coupeville’s top squad to 2-3 on the season heading into its home finale next Monday, Dec. 13 against Sultan.
The Wolves then close on the road with games at Langley and King’s.
Wednesday’s match-up featured a magnificent performance from CMS 8th grader Camden Glover, who dominated play, throwing down 19 points with a variety of power moves in the paint.
Tammy Glover’s oldest grandchild was also a beast on the boards, ripping down boards, redirecting Northshore shots and thoroughly delighting his fan club.
“Camden! CAMDEN!!! Caaaaaammmmmmmdeeeeennnnn!!!!!!” rang out, as his proud lil’ brothers angled for a reaction from their star, who finally consented and gave them a brief nod and smile.
Then promptly went out and laid down a hardcourt whuppin’, delighting the fan club again.
Or at least until fans #1A and #1B returned to the bliss of their coloring books.
Camden dropped in eight points in the first period, with Aiden O’Neill and Chase Anderson driving and dishing the ball to their big bruiser in the middle.
The game knotted at 10-10 headed to the first break, it started to veer in Northshore’s direction in the opening minute of the second frame.
The visitors dropped in their third three-ball to open things and stretched their margin to 15-10, only to see Coupeville regroup.
Attacking as a pack, with four different players pouring in buckets, the Wolves closed the half on a 15-2 tear.
Buckets came from all directions, whether it was O’Neill and Jayden McManus scoring off of rebounds, Chase Anderson slicing through the paint, or Glover pulling off a three-point play the hard way.
The Wolves were good, and they were also lucky, as Anderson lived up to his potential nickname — “The Magic Man.”
With the clock madly ticking down, and ace scoreboard operator Eryn Wood primed to hit the buzzer, the ball was punched loose after a mad fight for a rebound.
The orb skittered away, but, just as it looked like it would escape, Anderson came sliding through, plucked the ball off the ground and flicked a shot skyward.
Heads snapped up, the universe froze, then the ball plopped through the net, barely rippling the strings as the horn blared as background accompaniment.
Coupeville danced off the floor with a 25-17 lead, then held fast in the third quarter.
Twice the Wolves stretched the lead to 12, with the second coming at 31-19 after a Glover bucket, before Northshore trimmed the margin back to 35-27 heading to the fourth.
It was there where things went sideways.
Give Northshore credit, as its quicksilver guards fueled the comeback, forcing turnovers and converting at the other end.
A fifth three-ball for the visitors was huge, but Coupeville scoring just one basket in a six-and-a-half minute stretch proved to be the true killer.
Anderson finally broke the slide, hopping through the paint to drop in a runner and put CMS back on top 37-36 with 2:31 to play.
The Wolves wouldn’t score again for the next two minutes, however, and fell back behind 41-37 when Glover went to the free throw line with 38.5 ticks left on the clock.
He dropped in the first charity shot, while Anderson snared the missed second chance and slapped it back home to cut things to 41-40.
Northshore closed with precision, though, netting all four of its free throws from that point on, while the Wolves couldn’t get any of their desperation shots to fall.
Anderson finished with 13 points to back up Glover’s season-high 19, while O’Neill and McManus added four apiece.
Malachi Somes and Easton Green also played for Coupeville.
JV:
The game was a bit closer than the final score might indicate, as the visitors poured it on late in a 35-8 win.
Early on, the young, very-inexperienced Wolves, now 0-5 on the season, were competitive. Dare I say, even scrappy.
Riley Lawless pounded away down low, pumping in a pair of buckets as Coupeville hung tough, trailing just 8-4 at the first break.
One of those scores came off of a nice entry pass from Carson Grove, while the other featured Lawless rampaging end-to-end after pulling down a rebound, then hitting the gas.
He got help on defense from his teammates, with Joshua Stockdale a particular standout, pulling off a blocked shot and a steal on back-to-back plays.
The Wolves held up well on the defensive end of the floor, holding Northshore scoreless for the first four-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter.
Unfortunately, the rim proved fairly unforgiving when Coupeville fired up shots of its own, and the visitors eventually started to pull away.
A 16-4 deficit at halftime was slightly stretched out to 20-6 by the end of the third quarter, before Northshore piled up points in a furious rally across the game’s final two minutes.
In between frequent late NSA layups, the highlight of the game came when a CMS shot arced through the air, then got firmly stuck at the top of the backboard.
When ref Bernie Upchurch tried to knock the ball free by firing a second orb at it, the first ball popped free, fell about a foot, then immediately got re-stuck on a lower part of the backboard support.
But wait, there’s more!
The first poke at the ball with a stick failed to free it as well, thoroughly delighting the crowd.
A second poke freed the prisoner, however, slightly crushing those of us who were hoping the battle between man and ball would go on all afternoon.
Once the ball returned to play, Stockdale netted a bucket to go with the six points Lawless scored, accounting for all of Coupeville’s scoring.
Grove, Jonah Weyl, Matthew Kuzma, George Spear, Zach Blitch, Kenny Jacobsen, Dylan Robinett, Joshua Stockdale, Captain Teuscher, Ethan Walling, Jackson Waterbury, Wyatt Fitch-Marron, Max Ohme, Jacob Schooley, and Beckett Green also played.
Coupeville Sports 