Coupeville lead slips away in 2nd half | Boys basketball

A halftime lead soon evaporated in the third quarter and the Coupeville High School boys basketball team closed out the season with a 76-54 loss at Granite Falls Thursday, Feb. 6.

A halftime lead soon evaporated in the third quarter and the Coupeville High School boys basketball team closed out the season with a 76-54 loss at Granite Falls Thursday, Feb. 6.

The Wolves ended the year with a 1-13 Cascade Conference record, picking up their first league win in three seasons. They went 3-17 for the year after winning only one game the previous two.

Second-half struggles were a problem all year for Coupeville, and coach Anthony Smith isn’t sure why: “I can’t put my finger on it; I don’t know where to begin. I guess, for one, is turnovers.” Coupeville had 20 in the game.

Granite Falls, down 35-30 at half, attacked the Wolves with a trap in the third quarter that led to 22 points and limited Coupeville to seven.

“The trap caused our offense to break down,” Smith said.

The Tigers (6-7, 9-10) continued to pull away, outscoring the Wolves 24-12 in the fourth period.
The two teams were tied at 19 after the first quarter.

Wiley Hesselgrave, who had a stellar first half with 16 points, hit a 40-foot shot at the second-quarter buzzer to give Coupeville its five-point lead at the break.

Smith said he thought the shot would give the Wolves a boost coming out of halftime, but the Tigers’ trap proved otherwise.

Hesselgrave finished with 18 points, Anthony Bergeron 13, Nick Streubel 10, Gavin O’Keefe five, Joel Walstad three, Morgan Payne three and Matt Shank two, according to Smith.

“Our competitive level is there, but our execution level isn’t,” Smith said. “We will be doing a lot of teaching in the spring and summer.”

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