Camden Glover can torch the net from inside or outside. (Julie Wheat photo)
They needed this.
After playing three hotly contested games to open the season, while coming up on the short end of each rumble, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball team led from (almost) start to finish Tuesday to capture its first victory.
Beating visiting East Jefferson 64-47, the Wolves, who rep a 2B school, crushed the Rivals, a 1A program which combines two former CHS Olympic League foes – Port Townsend and Chimacum.
Now 1-3 after the non-conference win, Brad Sherman’s squad hits the road Friday to travel to Orcas Island for the first Northwest 2B/1B League game of the year.
If the Wolves play like they did Tuesday, they’ll stand a strong shot at sitting atop the (very early) conference standings.
Coupeville, playing once again without a full roster as various players work through early season injuries, jumped right on East Jefferson.
The Rivals notched the game’s first bucket, and held one last lead at 4-3, but then the Wolves tore their foes to shreds for the rest of the opening frame.
CHS big man Camden Glover, who owned the paint all night, took a dish from Chase Anderson and rolled past his defender to slap home a bucket, and Coupeville was launched on a game-busting 20-1 eruption.
The Wolves attacked from all angles, with Anderson going off for 15 points in the first quarter, mixing a pair of three-balls with breakaway buckets in which he simply outran the defense before elevating and delivering gifts to the hoops gods.
Fellow seniors Glover and Aiden O’Neill combined for eight points during the tear, forcing East Jefferson to try and account for multiple incoming bogeys, while missing out on stopping any of them.
The Rivals did claw back, a bit, cutting a 23-7 deficit at the first break back down to 25-17 midway through the second quarter.
Coupeville’s answer?
More Anderson, slashing to the hoop on give-and-go plays.
More Glover, asserting his dominance down low every time he touched the ball.
And a bit of razzle-dazzle from Davin Houston, taking a break from terrorizing the Rivals on defense to hit a swooping layup which had highlight reel written all over it.
Up 35-22 at the half, Coupeville kept up the pressure in the third quarter.
Glover grabbed center stage, with eight more points in the frame, but Houston also returned for another swooping bucket which showed off his high-energy hops, and then Easton Green made his presence known.
A largely unsung role player who embraces doing the kind of dirty work which warms a coach’s heart, the Wolf senior got his biggest offensive showcase Tuesday night.
Green slipped a pair of free throws through the net, bounced outside to drill the bottom of the net out on a three-ball, then came around later in the game to slash to the hoop and knock down a layup off a perfect entry pass.
Everything was rosy at 55-35 heading into the fourth, at which point the Wolves decided to give their coach a brief burst of angina.
East Jefferson hit back-to-back three-balls to key an 11-0 surge which cut the lead back to single-digits and make the always-calm Brad Sherman ever so slightly hunch his shoulders.
Not to worry, however, as the Wolves stiffened up on defense, holding the Rivals to just a single point over the game’s final four minutes, stretching the final margin back to 15 and assuring they would not be running lines from now until Friday.
For the first time this season, CHS had two players top 20 points in the same game, with Anderson banking in 25, and Glover powering his way to 21.
With his season-best performance, Glover joins the 150-point career club (he’s actually sitting at 160), while his running mate continues to move up into rarefied air.
Anderson, now with 663 career points, bounces from #29 all-time to #26 on the Wolf boys’ scoring chart, passing Jason McFadyen (654), Wade Ellsworth (659), and Pat Bennett (659) and moving within five of #25 Foster Faris (668).
Green and O’Neill each popped for seven Tuesday, while Houston knocked down four, and Malachi Somes and Liam Blas saw floor time.
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