Gavin Knoblich (44) and Ulrik Wells (5), seen here in an earlier game, both put in strong efforts on the boards Friday night. (John Fisken photo)
If you didn’t show up early Friday, you missed the show.
By the time Coupeville and visiting Chimacum were done playing their JV boys’ basketball game, we saw a little bit of everything.
A missing ref, frequent technical fouls, an epic number of missed free throws, a triumphant return from the injured list by CHS big man Koa Davison, and, unfortunately, a close loss for the Wolves.
Clanking 19 shots from the charity stripe (it shot just 12 of 31), Coupeville let one slip away, falling 50-43 to the chippy Cowboys.
Before they did, the Wolves got to witness the two-man ref crew (official #3 showed up an hour late) whistle three technical fouls, all for fairly unexpected reasons.
Chimacum got two — the first for a player who forget to remove studs from his ears before taking the court, the second for delay of game for repeatedly rolling the ball away from Coupeville and the refs after made baskets.
The Wolves were teed up when a defender made inadvertent, and incidental, contact with a Cowboy inbounding the ball.
Why a warning wasn’t issued before jumping to awarding Chimacum free throws remains a good question, and one the refs had no desire to answer.
When the two squads were allowed to actually play, it was a tightly-contested game, with neither side holding more than a two-point lead until late in the third.
With Davison back in action and dominating in the paint, Coupeville had opportunity to break things open, but could not buy a break at the free throw line.
That enabled Chimacum to pull away late, hitting back-to-back three-balls to stretch the lead out to nine at 44-35.
The Wolves responded, however, getting points from three different players during an 8-2 surge that pulled them back within a three-ball with 45 seconds to play.
Mason Grove kicked off the late run, burying a trey from the right side, before Jered Brown slid a pair of free throws through the twines.
Another freebie from Davison and a pull-up jumper in traffic off of Brown’s fingertips cut the lead to 46-43, but Chimacum held on, dropping in two final buckets to stretch the final deficit out to seven.
Davison, back after having leg issues, led the way with 13, while Sean Toomey-Stout hit a variety of shots to collect 10.
Grove (9), Brown (8), Gavin Knoblich (2) and Ulrik Wells (1) rounded out the scoring, while, for the first time in a long time, the Wolf bench was packed.
Aiden Juras, Nikolai Lyngra, Elliott Johnson, Tucker Hall and Kyle Rockwell all saw floor time, with Rockwell being a genuine beast on the boards.
Coupeville Sports 