The third quarter bugaboo reached out and grabbed the Coupeville boys basketball team once again in Tuesday’s Cascade League matchup against Granite Falls.
The Wolves played two good quarters to open the game, taking a 31-27 halftime lead, but were outscored 18-5 in the third period and lost 66-57 to the Tigers to remain winless at 0-10 in league games.
“They came out with a lot of intensity, but I didn’t think we played that poorly in the third quarter,” Coupeville coach Randy King said. “They just came out and played harder and made stuff happen.”
The Tigers’ big man, senior Sean Counley, scored eight of his game-high 28 points in the third quarter and was a major force under the boards at both ends of the court.
“Counley is a really tough player,” King said. “He attacks the basket and is really hard to block out. He’s a good player and is one of the reasons why they only lose to King’s. They are 13-2 for a reason.”
Trailing by nine points, 45-36 after three quarters of play, Coupeville scored 21 points in the final eight minutes. But Granite Falls matched the 21-point output to seal the victory.
“I was pleased by the way some of our guys who don’t play much came in off the bench and stepped up when we got into foul trouble early,” King said. “Jordan Emerson got five points in the second quarter and also pulled down some rebounds. That was fun to see.”
James Smith scored a team-high 20 points for Coupeville and Kramer O’Keefe had 12, including three from 3-point range.
Josh Knudson was the second player in double figures for Granite Falls with 22 points.
Granite Falls 66, Coupeville 57
Granite Falls 12 15 18 21 — 66
Coupeville 13 18 5 21 — 57
Granite Falls (66) — Counley 13 2-7 28, Knudson 5 12-12 22, Cuddeback 1 1-4 3, Villegas 0 0-0 0, DeNoma 2 0-0 4, Londerville 0 0-0 0, Gamache 2 2-2 8. Totals 23 17-25 66.
Coupeville (57) — Smith 7 5-5 20, O’Keefe 4 1-2 12, Evans 1 1-2 4, Tucker 0 0-0 0, Miller 3 0-0 6, Larson 2 1-2 6, Farmer 2 0-3 4, Loesch 0 0-0 0, Emerson 2 1-2 5. Totals 21 9-16 57.
Three-point goals — Granite Falls 3 (Gamache 2, Knudson); Coupeville 6 (O’Keefe 3, Smith, Evans, Larson).
