Playing without two starters, the Coupeville High School boys basketball team lost a pair of non-league games over the weekend.
The Wolves fell 52-27 at Vashon Island Friday, Dec. 15, and 61-38 at home to Bellevue Christian Saturday.
Coupeville was missing Cameron Toomey-Stout, who is out with an injury, and Joey Lippo, who had a prior commitment.
Coupeville (1-0, 2-7) will continue a run of five straight non-conference games when it hosts Concrete (3-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20.
Vashon Island 52, Coupeville 27
Already missing Toomey-Stout and Lippo, Coupeville lost the services of Jered Brown in the second period because of an illness.
As a result, the Wolves “never really got much going on offense,” coach Brad Sherman said.
Just four Wolves scored: Hunter Smith, 14; Ethan Spark, 8, Kyle Rockwell, 4; and Dane Lucero, 1.
One positive, Sherman said, was that “lots of young guys stepped up tonight and gave us some good minutes, which is really nice to see.”
Vashon Island (3-1) led 16-4, 35-10 and 43-14 at the quarters.
“Really a lot of credit to Vashon,” Sherman said. “That’s a good basketball team, tough. Our guys fought hard. They always fight hard; I love that about them.”
Mike Piatti scored 13 and Noah Edmonds 10 for the Pirates.
Vashon Island also won the JV game, 54-30.
“Vashon pressed and we struggled to handle the pressure,” coach Chris Smith said. “Overall, I was happy how we responded in the second half moving the ball around well and continuing to play tough defense. Everyone on the bench saw the floor tonight so that was a small victory.”
Three key Coupeville players saw limited time to reserve quarters for the varsity game.
Mason Grove, who played only two periods, scored 16 points and hit four three-point shots.
Bellevue Christian 61, Coupeville 38
The Vikings, who led 17-12 and 32-24 after two quarters, put the game away by outscoring the Wolves 17-3 in the third period. The win lifted BC’s record to 7-0.
Smith scored a game-high 20 points for Coupeville, Rockwell had 5, Brown 4, Hunter Downes 4, Grove 3 and Spark 2.
Andy Moyer scored 18 points and Ken West 12 for BC.
“Always hurts to leave without the win but we have to be forward looking,” Sherman said. “What’s ultimately important in these (non-league games) is that, win or lose, we are getting ourselves ready for our league schedule.
“We play a tough non-league schedule and that’s a good thing. These are good tests for us, and each time we get to evaluate where we can improve to get to where we know we want to be sitting at the end of the year.”
The Vikings slipped by Coupeville 47-43 in the junior varsity game.
Grove, again playing only two periods, hit four three-pointers and finished with 18 points. Koa Davison had a trio of three-balls and scored 13 points.
“This was the most balanced game we have played offensively and defensively,” coach Smith said.
