“No, I don’t need to get closer to the hoop.” Luke Merriman lives for the long-range bomb. (John Fisken photos)
Ethan Spark, about to create havoc.
R.I.P. the water bucket.
Friday night’s JV boys’ basketball game between Coupeville and visiting Port Townsend was a fairly thrilling back-and-forth affair that came down to the final moments, with the Wolves coming from behind to net a 46-43 win.
There were big three-pointers. Pressure-packed free throws. Crucial air balls.
But the moment that will be remembered is the sight of a Redhawk player losing his feet while trying to catch up with Wolf guard Ethan Spark and going face-first, at maximum velocity, into Coupeville’s water-dispensing machine.
Not merely brushing against it or knocking it down, he leveled it like Ray Lewis taking out a quarterback, blowing up the CHS bench in the process.
Five or six chairs went in different directions, Wolves and paper cups flew like bowling pins being knocked down and the Townsend player ended in a heap, on top of the machine, drenched, several feet away from the point of first impact.
It was beautiful, a moment to treasure for all in the stands.
Oh, and by the way, Spark, freed of his man, knocked down a crucial jumper that helped, ahem, “spark” a game-breaking 14-4 run.
Down by one, 30-29, entering the fourth, Coupeville caught fire, before, during and after the great deluge.
Brian Shank, playing perhaps his best game of the season, started the run on a beauty of a play where he released to the inside at the last second, took a pass and banged home the layup.
From there, it was a little bit of Spark (a jumper and a long-range trey), some Desmond Bell (a layup and a pair of free throws), another bucket from Shank on a strong drive to the hoop and just a touch of DeAndre Mitchell (a free throw).
Down 43-34, Port Townsend rediscovered its groove, holding the Wolves without a field goal for the final three minutes and cutting the lead all the way back to two.
But, even if they couldn’t hit from the field, the Wolves were able to remain in enough of a groove at the free-throw line to ice the game.
Hunter Smith, Bell and Shank each hit a charity stripe shot in the waning seconds to preserve the narrow lead, while the Wolf defense forced the Redhawks to air-ball their final two long-range shots as time expired.
The win lifted Coupeville’s young guns to 6-7 overall, 3-1 in Olympic League play. The Wolves have won six of their last eight.
Mitchell paced the offensive attack, pouring in seven of his 12 points in the first quarter.
He opened the game with a three-ball, put a rebound back up and in for another bucket and then topped things off with a flamboyant play.
Going airborne, he lost control of the rock for a second, then tipped it back to himself, snagged it and dropped the ball off the backboard over the fingers of two defenders.
Shank and Bell both dropped in eight points in support of Mitchell, while Spark banged home seven and Smith hit for six.
Luke Merriman rounded out the offensive display with a five-spot, hitting a running layup to beat the buzzer in the first quarter before stepping back to swish a second-quarter three-point bomb from somewhere out in the parking lot.
Coupeville Sports 