Ending the season the way it started, the Coupeville High School boys basketball team lost big to host Meridian 68-23 Wednesday, Feb. 8.

The game, a loser-out contest in the district tournament, wrapped up a winless year for the Wolves (0-19). They started the season with a 75-33 home loss to Meridian Dec. 2.

The Trojans (8-13) blitzed to a 15-2 lead in the first quarter and upped the gap to 22-2 in the second on the way to a 36-9 halftime lead. The score was 51-19 after three quarters.

Coupeville coach Anthony Smith said, “For some reason, we didn’t play at all.”

Lately Coupeville has put together good stretches of play in each game, but against Meridian, Smith said, “We couldn’t put minutes together.”

He added, “Meridian, to their credit, played well.”

Chase Heslap, a 6-8 post, scored 16 points, and 6-3 Denver VanderYacht scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Trojans.

Coupeville’s lone senior, Mitch Pelroy, led the Wolves in scoring with eight points. Sophomore Gavin O’Keefe added five, freshmen Taylor Ebersole and Carson Risner four each, and freshman Joel Walstad two.

Meridian out-rebounded Coupeville 45-15 and out-shot the Wolves 51 percent (28-for-55) to 23.7 percent (9-for-38).

Smith said, “We will hit the grindstone in the off season. We can’t play enough basketball.”