Aiden O’Neill pushes the ball. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It was a home finale full of wild mood swings.
The Coupeville Middle School boys basketball teams played their final games in the CMS gym Monday — there are two road tilts left on the schedule — and gave everyone their money’s worth.
Even if fans don’t have to actually pony up cold, hard cash for middle school games.
But you get the point.
Anyways, here’s how the day played out:
Varsity:
The best game of the season, regardless of the final score.
Bouncing back after losing by 15 the first time the teams played, the Wolves stormed from behind Monday, forced overtime, then fell 62-56 to visiting Sultan.
The defeat drops CMS to 2-4 on the season, but coaches Craig Anderson and Jon Roberts came away pleased with what they saw.
“We played like we expected to win, which we did not do the first time,” Roberts said. “This was us taking that next, big step.”
Sultan is perennially a middle school power, and they had at least three players who already look ready to make an impact on the high school court.
Toss in teammates who make smart passes, hit the boards with intensity, and play in-your-face defense, and it’s no surprise the Skyhawks can soar.
But give Coupeville major credit, as the Wolves never backed down — even when the Sultan coach, whipped up into a lather, got himself a technical foul and, later, a stern warning.
“You can sit down, or you can go home,” barked the ref, followed by a stare-off, and then the Skyhawk head man choosing to mute himself.
On the court, the action was intense from the get-go, with two talented teams punching and counterpunching from opening tip to wild finale.
Chase Anderson ended the first quarter by splashing home a pullup jumper, but Coupeville went to the break down 15-11.
A quick three-ball from the Skyhawks to open the second frame stretched the deficit out to seven, before the Wolves came alive.
Camden Glover, standing tall in the paint for CMS, kick-started things by rippling the net with a sweet jumper, and Coupeville brought its fans to their feet with a 12-0 run.
Four different Wolves scored during the surge, with Anderson and Aiden O’Neill knocking down three-balls, and Malachi Somes netting a jumper off of an inbounds pass.
CMS had its first lead of the game, only to see Sultan turn the tables almost as quickly.
The Skyhawks ripped off their own 9-0 rally to momentarily blunt Coupeville’s mojo, escaping to the halftime break back in front 27-23.
But this had become a game of runs, and the Wolves burst out of the locker room ready to rumble.
Glover couldn’t be stopped in the second half, scoring off of rebound put-backs and power moves in the paint, then droppin’ jumpers to keep the defense honest.
Two of his third-quarter buckets were set up by hustle work from Somes, who used fast hands and a go-go motor to always be in the right place at the right time.
First he pilfered the ball — setting up a Glover layup — then Somes corralled a loose ball and fired a beauty of a kick-out pass, hitting his teammate in stride.
The lead changed six times in the third frame, though Coupeville couldn’t stay in front and still trailed 39-36 heading into the fourth.
The (supposedly) final quarter featured the Wolves at their grittiest, as they never led over the seven-minute span, but never let Sultan escape.
Glover snatched a rebound, then powered up through three defenders for a second-chance bucket to knot things at 42-42, but time and again the Skyhawks seemed to hold the upper hand.
A pair of Sultan three-balls were deadly, and the visitors, with their coach melting down in real time, were still clinging to a 50-46 advantage with under a minute to play.
So, time for a little magic.
Anderson split the defense, faked a pass, and dropped in a roller to get the Wolves within two, before coming back around to hit two pressure-packed free throws to tie things up.
The trip to the charity stripe was courtesy the mad dog frothing at the end of the Sultan bench, who looked like he might have a stroke when one of his players missed a potential go-ahead free throw with just seven ticks on the clock.
That set up Coupeville with a chance to win things outright, but a stern Skyhawks defense made life tough for Anderson and his buzzer-beater slid off the rim.
The good times continued through two minutes of the extra period. Only problem — middle school overtime is three minutes.
Back-to-back three-balls from Anderson, with both shots kissing the glass before plopping through the net, staked CMS to its last lead at 56-55.
Unfortunately for the Wolves, that was where their offensive attack ended for the afternoon, with Sultan closing on a 7-0 spurt over the final 58 seconds.
The scorebook will tell you it was a loss. The feeling in the gym, however, was that of a win.
Anderson and Glover paced the Wolves, hitting for 21 and 20 points, respectively, while O’Neill banked in eight and kept alive a new, and intriguing, tradition.
The sweet-shooting guard has lost a shoe during action in every game I’ve seen him play during his 8th grade year. So, three.
Is O’Neill simply too fast for conventional footwear to be able to constrain him, or does someone need to start double-tying their laces? Debate.
Playing with both shoes on at all times, Jayden McManus added five points for Coupeville, Somes netted a bucket, and Easton Green and Riley Lawless also saw floor time.
JV:
Coupeville’s second squad, largely comprised of players new to the game, fell 48-11, dropping their record to 0-6.
But there were bright spots along the way, and proof that the work being put in by coaches and players is starting to pay off.
The Wolves were able to run more offensive sets than normal, and player’s willingness to sacrifice their bodies by setting screens for teammates was at an all-time high.
Jackson Waterbury came around the corner on one play, rumbling like a freight train going down a steep incline with no brakes.
The CMS 7th grader was intent on setting a screen, and for one beautiful second it looked like he was going to dislodge all the brain matter from the Sultan player in his way.
Veering off at the last second, Waterbury didn’t deliver the full-on crunch, opting to screech to a halt and show benevolence with a well-timed hip check instead.
Googly-eyed and content to stay down and enjoy the floor’s sweet embrace, his rival had a story to tell his parents when he got home.
“Yeah, mom, I almost died today! That dude was going to destroy me!! So yes, I think I will have seconds on dessert, and no, there won’t be any discussion on the matter!!!”
Also coming up big in the down ‘n dirty world of setting (or almost setting) screens was Wolf 6th grader Jonah Weyl, who went toe-to-toe with a kid three times his size and never blinked.
“You love to see it!” said Roberts with a note of pride in his voice.
Coupeville got its primary scoring boost from a rampaging Matthew Kuzma, who tallied his first five points of the season.
He banked in a three-ball, right after teammate Captain Teuscher made off with a steal, then came back around to get a bucket in the paint.
Lawless chipped in with four points, all set up by cleaning the offensive glass, while Joshua Stockdale made off with a steal, then went coast-to-coast for a cartwheeling layup.
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