Camden Glover played strongly in the paint Tuesday night. (Marquette Cunningham photo)
It’s a work in progress.
Playing minus two key players Tuesday, a new-look Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad struggled to contain a quick, efficient South Whidbey team, falling 57-42 in the season opener.
The bad news?
The game actually wasn’t that close, as the Wolves trailed by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter.
The good news?
The Wolves stayed scrappy until the end, even after their most dangerous big man fouled out, and closed the game on a 18-5 tear that saw six different players put the ball in the hoop.
Coupeville started the season without leading scorer Chase Anderson and high-energy Davin Houston, both on the sideline in street clothes, and things got out of hand quickly.
Camden Glover rolled inside for a bucket in the paint to make it 2-2, with running mate Malachi Somes drawing an offensive charge on a South Whidbey ballhandler on the very next play.
Then things got bumpy.
South Whidbey ripped off 12 unanswered points, with four consecutive buckets coming off of steals, and kept pushing the pace en route to a 20-5 lead at the first break.
The deficit stretched out to 23-5 early in the second frame, before the Wolves were finally able to put together a sustained run of their own.
A jumper from Glover kick-started an 11-5 tear for CHS, with Somes and Mahkai Myles combining for seven of those points, while Liam Blas and Glover hit the boards hard.
But South Whidbey had an answer on this evening, rallying to score the final five points of the half to carry a 33-16 advantage into the halftime break.
The third quarter was more of the same for the Wolves.
Aiden O’Neill went coast to coast for a pretty bucket, but South Whidbey responded with an immediate 11-0 spurt, crushing any hopes of a CHS comeback.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter, with Glover being fouled out by overly sensitive refs and the Falcons up 52-24, that Coupeville found a truly consistent groove.
O’Neill knocked down a three-ball from the top, and he, Myles, Somes, Riley Lawless, Carson Grove, and Easton Green all scored as the Wolves dominated the final five minutes after struggling through the first 27.
Somes, who played a standout game on both sides of the ball, even after taking a hard shot to the head, paced Coupeville with a varsity career-high 12 points, while Glover banked in nine and Myles knocked down eight in his varsity debut.
O’Neill (5), Grove (3), Lawless (2), Green (2), and Sage Arends (1) scored as well, with Blas and Nathan Coxsey also seeing floor time.
The Wolves get a chance to carry over their hot finish when they play host to Forks Thursday and Eastside Prep Saturday.
Coupeville Sports 