The Coupeville High School boys basketball team owned the first quarter, but, unfortunately for the Wolves, the final three quarters and the game belonged to University Prep as the Pumas won 59-41 in Seattle Saturday, Feb. 12.
The loser-out game ended Coupeville’s season and its first trip to tri-district since 2002. It also halted the Wolves’ hot-streak. They opened the season with just one win in the first nine games, then went 9-5 the rest of the way.
Coupeville jumped on University Prep, the state’s ninth ranked 1A team, 15-4 to start the game.
With 4:05 left in the half, the Wolves still led 24-17.
The Pumas (19-4) then went on a 14-0 run that bridged the second and third quarters. A 7-0 spurt at the end of the second period knotted the score at 24 at the break, then seven more points at the beginning of the third quarter, aided by back-to-back Coupeville turnovers, pushed the lead to 30-24.
Coupeville’s struggles can be attributed to poor shooting and fouls.
After the hot start, the Coupeville shooters cooled considerably and the fouls began to mount.
Tyler King picked up his third and four fouls early in the third period and sat until the beginning of the fourth quarter. Ben Hayes picked up his fourth and fifth fouls in the final minute of the third period and had to sit the final frame. Another CHS player picked up a technical foul when Hayes earned his fifth personal, and coach Randy King pulled the offending player.
Coupeville played most of the season with a six-man rotation and was forced to go to the bench and use players who had not seen meaningful minutes since the first few weeks of the season when several starters missed time for injuries.
University Prep led 43-31 at the end of the third period, and the thinned Coupeville squad was unable to mount a comeback.
Randy King said, “We just couldn’t get the ball in the hole, and the kids got frustrated. They (University Prep) didn’t do anything different (the second half).”
The Pumas sank 19 of 25 free throws; Coupeville shot just seven and hit four.
Hunter Hammer scored 13 points for the Wolves, followed by Ian Smith with 11, Hayes seven, Dalton Engle five and King five.
